#photoshop tutorials

[kitconnor]

WORKING WITH YOUTUBE QUALITY - HOW TO GET THE BEST RESULTS

helloooo, i recently feel as though i have found the key when it comes to dealing with youtube quality and i thought it was worthwhile sharing! i'm finding that when you're stuck with 1080p videos only, (although there is a lot more 4k downloads these days, thankfully) the quality is pretty poor. BUT, this is speaking exclusively about the quality of youtube 1080p - if you use a site such as sharemania, that's usually acceptable and good quality and doesn't deliver poor results.

but alas, this is about youtube, so let's get into it! this process will simply go over all the ins and outs of working with youtube quality, and will not look into the entire giffing process. i'll be using photoshop 2025, but it should work on any version!

Download your video.

firstly, start by downloading your video with 4k video downloader. (<- this will lead directly to a dl of 4k video downloader if you don't have it already! link is all safe and official <3) i can't really think of any other downloader because i haven't used any apart from this one. it's safe and secure and does a really good job.

you'll want to choose the 1080p option that is the BIGGER file amount. not every video will have that, but i believe that the bigger file size is the youtube premium 1080p. take what you can get with them 😭

2. Load frames, crop, convert to smart object...

just get your normal prep work done! make sure to leave out sharpening. you should essentially just be here:

(if my process looks a bit odd or if, on the other hand, you'd like to know my process, you can check that here.)

3. sharpening.

THIS is the point that changes how your youtube file comes out. often times, you'll find the gif comes out with chunks, squares and overall poor quality. kind of like if i used my regular sharpening:

chunky! gross! trashy! i'm seeing too many pixels and things aren't looking the right way that i'd like. (tbh, it's not the worst i've seen - but you can definitely notice when there's light.) if i went on as it is now and continued to colour it, it would continue to look bad.

so, here's what you'll do.

i use multiple sharpening actions, for different purposes: one for hq downloads, so any movies, tv or downloaded/4k music videos, one making icons and the other for lower quality media and photos. the one that i typically use for youtube quality is @/anyataylorjoy's sharpening action (which many gifmakers use, so i wouldn't be surprised if you do already have it!) which is what you'll use. apply the action, using the 'sharper' lot.

^ that's the settings.

4. sharpening pt 2. (noise)

now, you'll need to add noise to offset how harsh the rest of the gif still comes up.

apply these exact settings onto the gif and ensure that monochromatic is enabled.

sometimes, 2% noise might make it look worse, or not be enough. i personally wouldn't go to anything more than 3%, (i don't think you'll ever want to use 3%) and wouldn't go lower than 1%.

it's grainy looking at the moment, just as is. from here, i'll colour it, and then if i think it's no good, i'll go back and clear the noise filter and toggle it. that's just how the process works, don't stress if it doesn't always go your way 😭 that's just gifmaking!

here's the final product!

and here's another example too, i know this one has a lot going on colour wise, so it can be good to look at it working on something with less bright colours:

as compared to before! before shows the gif was really smooth, as compared to in chappell's, were the lighting was just kind of messing with everything. you're more likely to come across videos that are that weird smooth quality, so i'd say that 7 times out of 10 you'll be applying these settings to something more along the lines of doechii's!

the before :)

[anyataylorjoys]

I was asked to put together a demonstration on how I did the analog selection effect in the first gif of my Final Girl set which mostly involved elaborate keyframe work and was like a living hell. This will be a much more simplified version for comprehensive ease, but still very wordy.

This tutorial is for intermediate/experienced level gifmakers who are already familiar with gif-making, keyframes, and layer masks, and this will serve more as a guide than anything.

If you are not comfortably experienced with the above, this may be difficult to follow because I won't be elaborating on every detail, but if you're still interested in recreating something like this regardless, I suggest checking out the below tutorials first:

Giffing 101: A Comprehensive Guide by redbelles

Clipping masks vs. layer masks by kal-kestis on usergif

Shapes and putting gifs inside them by nobie

Create your canvas, make your shapes and align them in the positions you want them to be in. Then get the gifs you plan on filling your shapes with created on standby.

Things to keep in mind before starting: 1. Many of you may have already learned through experience that photoshop has a tendency to create duplicate frames when you are working with multiple gifs on one canvas. It typically occurs when you don't have the same number of frames in all the gifs that you're combining onto your canvas, or rather, your clips are not perfectly aligned. OR when you are working with keyframes, but this time we will have an exception to that rule for what're doing so I won't be discussing the 0.03-interval rule here but if you're curious, it's fully explained this this tutorial by nik on usergif.

To be on the safe side, load in the same number of frames for all gifs. I usually just load in however many frames for each, and then I trim the clips on both ends to be the same, but they have to be exact. If even a single integer is out of place in timeline, you could still risk getting duplicate frames at the end. 2. When making an edit like this, you have to consider the amount of time you have from start to end to make the transitions and rationally plan them out in the space you have available. The more shapes you use, the more frames your gifs will need to be composed of.

3. If you're trying to get the same effect as in my Final Girl edit, where the black & white is default, and the color phases in and out, my goal here is for the color to be visible for at least 10-15 frames each gif, so with 3 gifs, I figured around 65-70 frames would be a good range.

For my first gif, I intentionally loaded in my gamble of 68 frames. For the other two, I loaded in all that was capped in the folders, moved the clips into the positions I wanted them to be in, put them in their designated layer masks, and then trimmed the clips on both sides to match the initial 68-frame clip. ❗️Remember that they have to be exactly aligned like this and all other trimmed off clips deleted before you start your key-framing❗️

Next you wanna make a group for each gif (highlighted in yellow for visibility) to put your coloring adjustments into with a layer mask for their designated shapes, which should look like this in your layers, and like the below in timeline once aligned with the rest of the clips.

I also just tucked the shape layers into the coloring groups to clean it up. But if you plan on creating frames for the gifs, I suggest you move those layers to the bottom and keep them until the end when they can be used for borders, but if not you can make new shapes later.

Assign a black & white gradient map to each gif with a clipping mask on top of your coloring groups.

Now lets say you're not pleased with the outcome of the black & white like for mine, it desperately needs brighting and contrast.

Add your brighting adjustments as needed, and give every adjustment its corresponding layer mask like below.

Next, duplicate both your gif layer and your coloring group, then select both duplicates, as well as your new b&w color adjustments and convert them into a smart object together.

You should now have your original gif + original coloring group, and one single black & white gif on top.

Do this with the rest of the gifs! If you want, you can also combine your original gif and coloring group into a smart object so you have one colored gif, and one black & white counterpart for each.

Now we add the key frames!

You're going to be adding opacity keyframes to your black and white gif layers only. Decide which gif you want the color reveal to start with, and what your reveal pattern is going to be.

I chose to reveal the color of my first gif 11 marks in, which means I need to add a key frame at the 10th mark as well. This is because we don't want a literal "fade-out" effect, we want the change to be immediate. The first key should be at 100% opacity, and the second at 0%. You shouldn't have to worry about duplicate frames upon conversion because all keyframes will only be 1 integer apart.

Once you've decided where your next reveal will start on your second gif of choice, repeat the process.

Then you have to add more 2 more key frames to the prior gif to transition it back into black & white. This needs to occur simultaneously as the next gif transitions into color. Where one starts, another ends, and where one ends, another starts, etc.

Follow this process until you have 2 pairs of keyframes on all your gifs (your final gif should only have 1 pair). Whether you want the transitions to be evenly spaced is your choice and I think it looks cleaner that way. For my final girl set, I was trying to simulate an analog effect similar to making a player selection in an old video game so they were placed methodically to be "jumpy". But play with the keyframe intervals between each gif to get them to look the way you want.

Your keyframes should look like this in the end for reference:

Circling back to adding borders, it's the same keyframe process, but on new shape layers on 0% fill +stroke to serve as the border (if you deleted your shapes earlier). Try adding an "outer glow" blending option to make the border more prominent. Then, make sure the opacity keyframes on the shapes align with the keyframes on the gifs.

If you have any further questions on something not elaborated enough on, my dms are open!

[zresources]

yet another gif coloring tutorial

Okay, so, I posted a coloring tutorial for one of my moots a few years ago on my main, @zackmartin (I believe I've since deleted it) but that was the technique I was using when I started making gifs 7ish years ago, and I’ve since updated my routine so I decided to post a new tutorial with my new technique.

I'm going to show you how I achieved this:

I'm using Photoshop for this. I'll try to make this as detailed as possible so it's beginner-friendly, but you do at least need to know how to make and export a gif. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out! just be aware, this tutorial really image-heavy

A few notes before I begin: 1) this is like, the bare minimum most basic way to color a gif. This is what I’d be doing if I was giffing a scene and that’s it. If you’re interested in different coloring styles (like my suite life episode series) then let me know! 2) When coloring gifs with POC, you need to make sure not to change their skin color by making them too light, too orange, too yellow etc. The JATP source blog posted a masterpost of different tutorials to teach you how to color gifs in different ways (like with the pastel coloring for instance) without whitewashing/orangewashing POC. But, honestly there’s a ton of tutorials out there that show you how to avoid this if you do a little digging. NO EXCUSES! 

Anyway, let's get started! Before I do the coloring, I ofc make my gif, crop it, set the frame rate, resize, and sharpen. (you can find my sharpening tutorial HERE)

I. BRIGHTENING

(as a quick note, I don't focus much on London's skin tone during this stage, because I'm going to fix it during later steps)

The first thing I do is white balance using a curves layer. To do this, I click the little circle thing in the toolbar below the layers, and then click curves like so (you'll do this every time you want to add a new layer):

And then I click the bottom eyedropper tool on the left-hand side:

Then I click the lightest white part of the gif. (I’m not sure how to explain this well, but it basically white balances that spot to make it pure white. Like, if I clicked on the gold part of London's bracelet, then the whole gif would turn out really blue because it would be trying to white balance the gold) (hopefully that makes at least a little bit of sense)

Anyway, there’s a trick I use to find the lightest part of the gif; hold down the option key (or alt if you’re on windows) and while you’re holding down the option key, drag the little white arrow on the right-hand side:

(i apologize for the quality of the screenshots, tumblr keeps destroying them :/ let me know if I need to clarify anything)

Then I use another curves layer to do the same thing with but with the blacks. So, I add another curves layer, and then click the eyedropper tool at the top this time:

And then I click the darkest, black part of the gif. You can use the same trick by holding the option/alt key and dragging the triangle on the left-hand side:

Next, I add a levels layer. I drag the middle lever thing to the left, and the left lever to the right. (I don’t usually touch the little lever thing on the far-right, but it’s really up to personal preference. I learned to color gifs by basically messing around with settings, so I’d recommend doing the same and just seeing what you like best):

Finally, if I want to go even brighter, I usually add a brightness/contrast layer. I typically turn up the brightness a bit, and turn down the contrast. But, since I brightened a lot with the curves and levels, I usually don’t go that far. These were the settings I used for this particular gif (even though I'm going to share most of the settings that I used, I wouldn't recommend using the exact same ones on your own gif as it'll really depend on the scene you're using):

II. VIBRANCE

Now I add a vibrance layer. I like my gifs to be bright and vibrant, so I usually turn up the vibrance, and turn down the saturation a bit. These are the settings I used for this particular gif:

And this is what the gif looks like so far with just brightening it up a bit and adding vibrance (it might look a bit too bright right now, but I'm going to fix that in later steps):

III. SELECTIVE COLOR

Now, I add a selective color layer. The reds and yellows typically affect skin tones, so this is where I'll start to fix London's. These are the settings I used for this gif (I usually wouldn't change all of the colors, but this is just one of those situations where they happened to be present in the scene I'm giffing):

IV. HUE/SATURATION

now I add a hue/saturation layer. I typically turn up the master saturation to +10 and the lightness between +3 - +5 regardless of the gif. Then if I still need to fix skin tones, I'll mess around with the reds and yellows. These are the settings I used:

V. PHOTO FILTER

Next, I add a photo filter. I usually stick with the default one, I keep the layer set to normal, and I turn the opacity down to 25%:

VI. B&W GRADIENT MAP

finally, I add a black & white gradient map, and I click the little box to reverse it:

Then I set the layer to soft light and I turn the opacity down, between 10% - 20% depending on the gif:

A lot of times, I'll stop here. If I'm satisfied with the way the gif looks, and London's skin isn't too pale/orange/yellow etc, then I could just add my watermark, export and be done. But, there a few other optional steps I might take if I'm still not quite happy with it.

VII. OPTIONAL

Usually the next thing I'll add if I've decided to keep going is a color balance layer. It obviously does as it says, helps balance out the colors, but some gifmakers also like their gifs to have like, a reddish tint or a bluish tint or what have you, so this can help with that too. I wanted to balance out the reddish/yellowish tint, so these are the settings I used:

and this was the gif before the color balance:

and after:

And if I want to play around with the colors a bit more, or fix the skin tones further, I might add another selective color layer or a hue/saturation layer (or both, depending).

Rarely, I might add an exposure layer. (I added one to this gif for the purposes of this tutorial). These are the settings I used for that:

And if the gif came out a bit too bright, I might add another brightness/contrast layer, except this time I would turn down the brightness and turn up the contrast (again, I did that with this gif for the purposes of this tutorial).

And, that's pretty much it! This is my finished gif!

Like I said earlier, I pretty much learned how to color by messing around in photoshop, so I would really recommend playing with the different layers and settings for yourself, as well as checking out other coloring tutorials and other gifmakers methods and see what you like and what you don't. And finally, the best thing you can do is just,,, practice. I've been gifmaking for about seven years, but I feel like I didn't really become decent at it until this year

Again, If you have any questions let me know! and feel free to tag me in your creations! #userzackmartin 💕

[grafixdesigngoodies]

Retro Halftone Effects in Photoshop

In this tutorial, I’ll run through the setup I use to create halftone effects in Photoshop. Great for posters, apparel, stickers, or just making cool retro-lookin stuff! This approach will bypass the halftone filters and create the effect from scratch, with the added benefit of being live and adjustable. In the second half of the video, we’ll take a look at some custom settings to bring additional color or transparency into the image.

Thanks for watching!

[posiresources]

header is a template by @stephysource Mascot/faceclaim is Danielle Campbell - Not updated yet but official blog psd made by @smolresources

this is an under construction blog for lovers of content and content creators. this page endeavors to make things accessible as well as joyful in this community. Wether you make fan art, psds,edits, icons, codes, rp resources paid or otherwise. Feel free to tag in things but we will do our best to reblog tutorials and information as well as commission info or pack or template results. @limoncellocodes is where we have gotten code from. Please feel free to send in asks. Shoutouts for creators is greatly appreciated. We ask that you credit the people you use things from or be blocked as a terrible human and if you can like or reblog if a tutorial is helpful to you

[uchihaarchive]

༄ ⭒ ☾ prompts

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༄ ⭒ ☾ resources

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༄ ⭒ ☾ miscellaneous

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[threesixtyplus]

How to Capture Stunning Product Photos in 2023

Photography Trends -  It is a vital aspect of e-commerce, as it showcases your products in an attractive and authentic way

Photography Trends – Welcome to our blog, where we dive into the exciting world of product photography and explore the top trends that are set to dominate the industry in 2023. As technology evolves and consumer preferences shift, it’s essential for photographers and brands to stay up to date with the latest trends to create captivating visuals that engage and inspire. So, let’s unveil the…

[bambinographics]

Real-Estate Concept Poster | Social media post for Construction Work | P...

[hob28]

Advanced Photoshop Techniques: Elevate Your Design Skills

Introduction

Once you've mastered the basics of Photoshop, diving into advanced techniques can significantly enhance your creative projects and workflow. These advanced skills will allow you to push the boundaries of your creativity, creating professional-grade designs that stand out. In this guide, we'll explore a variety of advanced Photoshop techniques to help you elevate your work.

1. Mastering Layer Styles and Blending Modes

Understanding and utilizing advanced layer styles and blending modes can create stunning effects and bring your designs to the next level. Layer styles like Bevel & Emboss, Drop Shadow, and Gradient Overlay can add depth and dimension to your designs. Experiment with blending modes such as Multiply, Screen, Overlay, and Soft Light to blend layers creatively and achieve unique visual effects.

2. Advanced Masking Techniques

Mastering advanced masking techniques allows for precise control over image adjustments and compositions. Using layer masks, you can seamlessly blend multiple images or selectively apply adjustments to specific areas. Refine Edge and Select and Mask tools help create intricate selections for complex subjects like hair or transparent objects, ensuring smooth and realistic composites.

3. Non-Destructive Editing with Smart Objects

Smart Objects offer a powerful way to apply transformations and filters non-destructively, preserving the quality of your original images. Convert layers to Smart Objects before resizing, warping, or applying filters. This way, you can make changes without degrading the image quality, and you can always revert to the original state if needed.

4. Creative Use of Filters and Effects

Applying creative filters and effects can transform your images and add unique artistic touches. Use the Liquify filter for surreal distortions, the Oil Paint filter for a painterly look, or the Tilt-Shift filter for miniaturization effects. Combine multiple filters and effects to develop your own signature style, and use the Filter Gallery to preview combinations.

5. Advanced Retouching and Healing Techniques

Advanced retouching and healing techniques can help you achieve professional-quality results in portrait and product photography. The Healing Brush and Clone Stamp tools are excellent for removing blemishes, imperfections, and unwanted elements. Frequency Separation is a technique that separates texture and color, allowing for precise and natural-looking skin retouching.

6. Using Actions and Scripts to Automate Workflow

Automating repetitive tasks with actions and scripts can streamline your workflow and save valuable time. Photoshop Actions record a sequence of steps that you can apply to multiple images with a single click. Scripts, written in JavaScript, offer even more advanced automation possibilities, such as batch processing and complex adjustments.

7. Creating Complex Selections with Channels

Channels provide a powerful method for creating complex selections, especially when dealing with intricate details like hair or fur. By isolating the color information in different channels, you can create precise masks. Use the Alpha channel to store and refine selections, combining them with layer masks for detailed compositing work.

8. Advanced Typography and Text Effects

Elevate your text designs with advanced typography techniques and text effects that stand out. Use Layer Styles to add shadows, glows, and textures to your text. Explore the capabilities of the 3D Text tool to create dynamic and realistic text effects. Combine text with clipping masks and layer blending modes for creative and impactful typography.

9. 3D Effects and Compositing

Explore the world of 3D in Photoshop to create immersive effects and complex composites. Use the 3D workspace to build, texture, and light 3D objects. Integrate 3D elements with 2D images to create realistic scenes. Experiment with depth maps, extrusions, and 3D layers to add an extra dimension to your designs.

10. Leveraging the Power of Camera Raw

The Camera Raw filter offers advanced tools for photo editing, providing greater control over exposure, color, and detail. Use Camera Raw to make global adjustments, such as correcting white balance, enhancing contrast, and sharpening details. The local adjustment tools, like Graduated Filter and Adjustment Brush, allow for precise, targeted edits to specific areas of your image.

Conclusion

By incorporating these advanced Photoshop techniques into your skill set, you can push the boundaries of your creativity and produce professional-grade designs. Mastering layer styles, blending modes, and advanced masking techniques will refine your compositing skills, while non-destructive editing and automation will streamline your workflow. Embrace the power of Photoshop's advanced features, and watch your design capabilities soar.

[kitconnor]

recently, a lot of people have been losing their gifs to reposters, whether that be a whole set stolen or just one gif taken for a textpost. which leads to a lot of us turning towards watermarks to not lose our work. it's not everyone's first choice, particularly because of aesthetics, but it's the best way to keep what you own.

of course, it might seem silly to do a whole "tutorial" on watermarks, but there's a lot of different ways to watermark in a subtle way that still protects your work. i've also seen a lot of people incredibly hesitant to move to watermarks because they believe it marrs their work, which may be true, but there are definitely ways around that. anyway, let's begin !

WATERMARK 1: URL/TRACKED TAG

the most common watermark for people is usually 'thisismyurl.tumblr.com', 'thisismyurl | tumblr', 'thisismyurl' - at least, this is assumed for most people as the best way to watermark.

but if you're like me and constantly want to change your url, you know that there's a good chance a watermark on a gif 3 months ago could be completely different to one now. this is why people are turning to tracking tags.

tracked tags change less frequently, if at all. it's smaller, which makes it more subtle. if you want to go the extra mile like me, you can create a blog under your tracked tag (eg. i track tuserlucie) which means you can reblog anything with your watermark to the blog, showing that it is yours.

placement is key though ! here's 3 different ways you can place it.

NOTE: opacity has not been altered on any of these. depending on how it looks with your gif, opacity looks best at 10-30%.

Font settings: Momcake, thin, 10pt, #ededed.

each of these placements have different advantages.

the first placement (top left) is the one i personally use. it's centered right on the middle but not too high up.

the second placement (top right) is probably the most popular. corners mean people can kind of tuck the watermark away where it doesn't seem obvious. the fourth (bottom right) effectively does the same.

the third placement (bottom left) is 100% the most effective. it sits in a point exactly where it's noticeable, making it less desirable for reposters. on the right opacity too, you hardly notice it.

WATERMARK 2: ICONS/SIGILS

this is an idea that i've seen used mostly by nik @cal-kestis , but is a great and creative way to do it !

an icon or sigil makes your gif totally unique to you. and it's something cute on there which is different to having to put text on there.

(i've put it in orange for the purpose of seeing it)

but you can see here, it doesn't need to be anything special. i've just used an oval shape plus the initials of my url and that's it !

but a sigil can be anything. it doesn't need to have text; it could just be an image. it could just be your icon. either way, it's a cute little alternative to using text.

here's the different options that i preference in action.

SIGIL - bottom right corner

URL - bottom middle

TRACKED TAG - face/body

RESOURCES

here's some resources to use if you want to start watermarking !

FONTS:

Momcake (this one was used throughout all the text watermarks !) Cocogoose Lemon milk Bebas Quicksand PSD

you can access a psd of editable watermarks here.

[attitudeacademu4u]

Transforming Images with Photoshop: A Comprehensive Tutorial

Introduction:

In the realm of digital artistry and graphic design, Adobe Photoshop stands as a powerful tool, offering a myriad of features that allow users to unleash their creativity. Whether you're a seasoned designer or a novice eager to learn, this comprehensive tutorial will guide you through the transformative journey of image editing using Photoshop.

Understanding the Basics:

Before diving into the world of Photoshop transformation tools, let's establish a solid foundation. Photoshop Tutorial, a term synonymous with creativity and precision, serves as the perfect starting point for anyone looking to enhance their image editing skills.

Exploring Photoshop Transformation Tools:

1. Understanding the Essentials:

Begin your Photoshop journey by grasping the basics. Familiarize yourself with essential transformation tools like the Move Tool, Crop Tool, and Selection Tools. Mastering these tools lays the groundwork for more advanced transformations.

2. Leveraging Layer Styles:

Photoshop's layer styles play a pivotal role in transforming the overall look of an image. Learn how to use layer effects to add depth, shadows, and highlights, creating a visually appealing composition.

3. Unleashing the Power of Filters:

Delve into the realm of filters to take your transformations to the next level. Explore the myriad of options available, from basic blurs to artistic filters, to give your images a unique and captivating appearance.

4. Manipulating Perspective with Puppet Warp:

The Puppet Warp tool allows you to manipulate the perspective of objects within your images. This powerful feature is particularly useful for adjusting the positioning of elements in a photo, providing a realistic touch to your edits.

5. M0agical Transformations with Liquify:

Photoshop's Liquify tool opens up a realm of creative possibilities. Sculpt and reshape elements in your image with precision, making it an ideal tool for retouching and artistic transformations.

Photoshop Tutorial: A Guiding Light:

As you explore these Photoshop transformation tools, keep in mind the importance of continuous learning. A Photoshop tutorial serves as a guiding light, offering step-by-step instructions and insights into the latest features and updates. Stay updated with the latest Photoshop tutorials to stay at the forefront of the ever-evolving digital design landscape.

Conclusion:

In the realm of graphic design, mastering Photoshop's transformation tools is a journey of continuous learning and creative exploration. This comprehensive tutorial aimed at both beginners and experienced users showcases the diverse ways you can elevate your images using Photoshop. Remember, a Photoshop transformation tools is not just a set of instructions; it's a roadmap to unlocking your creative potential. Embrace the transformative power of Photoshop, and let your imagination soar. Happy editing!

[grafixdesigngoodies]

Photoshop Game Changer GRAIN SHADED GRADIENT MAPS

Getting back into Photoshop with the results of the latest experiments in the lab! The question: How can we create noisy, grain-shaded Gradient Map Adjustments in Photoshop?

The answer: A little bit of Adjustment Layer alchemy...

[news4nose]

How to Cancel Photoshop Subscription 

Are you here as you don’t want to retain your Adobe Photoshop subscription anymore? Oh yes, you can cancel it seamlessly!!

Do you know that even after you cancel your Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, you can still access your Adobe account.

[damienns]

My GIF Making process: Screen capturing using MPV player, Organizing files, 3 Sharpening settings, Basic Coloring PSD + Actions set

This is a very long post so heads up.

I’ll try to be as thorough and true as much as possible to the way I make my gifs (I already use Photoshop Actions which I’ve long since set up but now for this tutorial I’m reviewing them to show you the exact steps I’ve learned to create my gifs 😃) and present them to you in a semi-coherent way. Also, please bear with me since English is my second language.

First things first. Below are the things and tools we need to do this:

Downloaded 4K or 1080p quality videos (let’s all assume we know where to get these—especially for high definition movies and tv series—so this post doesn’t get removed, okay? 😛)

Adobe Photoshop CC or the CS versions can work as well, but full disclosure I haven’t created gifs using the CS versions since 2020. I’m currently using Adobe Photoshop 2024.

mpv player. Use mpv player to get those frames/screenshots or any other video player that has a screen grabber feature. I’ve used adapter for the longest time but I’ve switched to mpv because the press to screenshot feature while the video is playing has been a game changer not to mention ultimate time saver for me. For adapter you need to play it in another video player (like VLC player), to get the start and end timestamps of the scene you want to gif which takes me ages before I can even open Photoshop.

Anyway! Please stop reading this post for a moment and head over to this amazing tutorial by kylos. She perfectly tells you how to install and use mpv player, both for Mac and Windows users.

One thing I have to share though, I had a tough time when I updated my MacOS to Sonoma since MPV is suddenly either duplicating frames or when I delete the duplicates the player seems to be skipping frames :/ I searched and found a solution here, though it didn’t work for me lol. My workaround for this in the meantime is decreasing the speed down to 0.70 then start screenshotting—it’s not the same pre Sonoma update but it works so I’ll have to accept it rather than have jumpy looking gifs.

Now, after this part of kylos’ tutorial:

you can continue reading the following sections of my gif tutorial below.

I want to share this little tip (sorry, this will only cater to Mac users) that I hope will be helpful for organizing the screenshots that MPV saved to the folder you have selected. Because believe me you don’t want to go through 1k+ of screenshots to select just 42-50 frames for your gif.

The Control + Command + N shortcut

This shortcut allows you to create a new folder from files you have pre-selected. As you can see below I have already created a couple of folders, and inside each folder I have selected screenshots that I want to include in one single gif. It's up to you how you want to divide yours, assuming you intend to create and post a Tumblr gifset rather than just one gif.

Another tip is making use of tags. Most of, if not all the time, I make supercorp gifs so I tag blue for Kara and red (or green) for Lena—just being ridiculously on brand and all that.

Before we finally open Photoshop, there's one more thing I want to say—I know, please bear with me for the third? fourth? time 😅

It's helpful to organize everything into their respective folders so you know the total number of items/frames you have. This way, you can add or delete excess or unnecessary shots before uploading them in Photoshop.

For example below there are 80 screenshots of Kara inside this folder and for a 1:1 (540 x 540 px) Tumblr gif, Photoshop can just work around with 42-50 max number of frames with color adjustments applied before it exceeds the 10 MB file size limit of Tumblr.

Sometimes I skip this step because it can be exhausting (haha) and include everything so I can decide visually which frames to keep later on. You'll understand what I mean later on. But it's important to keep the Tumblr 10 MB file size limit in mind. Fewer frames, or just the right amount of frames, is better.

So, with the screenshot organization out of the way, let's finally head over to Photoshop.

Giffing in Photoshop, yay!

Let’s begin by navigating to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack…

The Load Layers window will appear. Click the Browse button next.

Find your chosen screenshots folder, press Command + A to select all files from that folder then click Open. Then click OK.

After importing and stacking your files, Photoshop should display the following view:

By the way, I'll be providing the clip I've used in this tutorial so if want to use them to follow along be my guest :)

If you haven't already opened your Timeline panel, navigate to Windows > Timeline.

Now, let's focus on the Timeline panel for the next couple of steps.

Click Create Video Timeline, then you’ll have this:

Now click the menu icon on the top right corner then go to Convert Frames > Make Frames from Clips

Still working on the Timeline panel, click the bottom left icon this time—the icon with the three tiny boxes—to Convert to Frame Animation

Select Make Frames From Layers from the top right corner menu button.

So now you have this:

Go and click the top right menu icon again to Select All Frames

Then click the small dropdown icon to set another value for Frame Delay. Select Other…

The best for me and for most is 0.05 but you can always play around and see what you think works for you.

Click the top right menu icon again to Reverse Frames.

I think Photoshop has long since fixed this issue but usually the first animation frame is empty so I just delete it but now going through all these steps there seems to be none of that but anyways, the delete icon is the last one among the line of feature buttons at the bottom part of the Timeline panel.

Yay, now we can have our first proper GIF preview of a thirsty Lena 😜

Press spacebar to watch your gif play for the very first time! After an hour and half of selecting and cutting off screenshots! 😛 Play it some more. No really, I’m serious. I do this so even as early (lol) as this part in the gif making process, I can see which frames I can/should delete to be within the 10 MB file size limit. You can also do it at the end of course 🙂

Now, let’s go to the next important steps of this tutorial post which I’ve numbered below.

Crop and resize to meet Tumblr's required dimensions. The width value should be either 540px, 268px, or 177px.

Convert the gif to a Smart Object for sharpening.

Apply lighting and basic color adjustments before the heavy coloring. I will be sharing the base adjustments layers I use for my gifs 😃.

1. Crop and Resize

Click on the Crop tool (shortcut: the C key)

I like my GIFs big so I always set this to 1:1 ratio if the scene allows it. Press the Enter key after selecting the area of the frame that you want to keep.

Side note: If you find that after cropping, you want to adjust the image to the left or another direction, simply unselect the Delete Cropped Pixels option. This way, you will still have the whole frame area available to crop again as needed and as you prefer.

Now we need to resize our gif and the shortcut for that is Command + Opt + I. Type in 540 as the width measurement, then the height will automatically change to follow the ratio you’ve set while cropping.

540 x 540 px for 1:1

540 x 405 px for 4:3

540 x 304 px for 16:9

For the Resample value I prefer Bilinear—but you can always select the other options to see what you like best.

Click OK. Then Command + 0 and Command + - to properly view the those 540 pixels.

Now we get to the exciting part :) the sharpen settings!

2. Sharpen

First we need to have all these layers “compressed” intro a single smart object from which we can apply filters to.

Select this little button on the the bottom left corner of the Timeline panel.

Select > All Layers

Then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters

Just click OK when a pop-up shows up.

Now you should have this view on the Layers panel:

Now I have 3 sharpen settings to share but I’ll have download links to the Action packs at the end of this long ass tutorial so if you want to skip ahead, feel free to do so.

Sharpen v1

Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen…

Below are my settings. I don’t adjust anything under Shadows/Highlights.

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.4

Click OK then do another Smart Sharpen but this time with the below adjustments.

Amount: 12

Radius: 10.0

As you can see Lena’s beautiful eyes are “popping out” now with these filters applied. Click OK.

Now we need to Convert to Frame Animation. Follow the steps below.

Click on the menu icon at the top right corner of the Timeline panel, then click Convert Frames > Flatten Frames into Clips

Then Convert Frames > Convert to Frame Animation

One more click to Make Frames From Layers

Delete the first frame then Select All then Set Frame Delay to 0.05

and there you have it! Play your GIF and make sure it’s just around 42-50 frames. This is the time to select and delete.

To preview and save your GIF go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)…

Below are my Export settings. Make sure to have the file size around 9.2 MB to 9.4 MB max and not exactly 10 MB.

This time I got away with 55 frames but this is because I haven’t applied lighting and color adjustments yet and not to mention the smart sharpen settings aren't to heavy so let’s take that into consideration.

Sharpen v1 preview:

Sharpen v2

Go back to this part of the tutorial and apply the v2 settings.

Smart Sharpen 1:

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.3

Smart Sharpen 2:

Amount: 20

Radius: 0.5

We’re adding a new type of Filter which is Reduce Noise (Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise...) with the below settings.

Then one last Smart Sharpen:

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.3

Your Layers panel should look like this:

Then do the Convert to Frames Animation section again and see below preview.

Sharpen v2 preview:

Sharpen v3:

Smart Sharpen 1:

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.4

Smart Sharpen 2:

Amount: 12

Radius: 10.0

Reduce Noise:

Strength: 5

Preserve Details: 50%

Reduce Color Noise: 0%

Sharpen Details: 50%

Sharpen v3 preview:

And here they are next to each other with coloring applied:

v1

v2

v3

Congratulations, you've made it to the end of the post 😂

As promised, here is the download link to all the files I used in this tutorial which include:

supercorp 2.05 Crossfire clip

3 PSD files with sharpen settings and basic coloring PSD

Actions set

As always, if you're feeling generous here's my Ko-fi link :) Thank you guys and I hope this tutorial will help you and make you love gif making.

P.S. In the next post I'll be sharing more references I found helpful especially with coloring. I just have to search and gather them all.

-Jill

[piecesintoplaces]

As a thank you for so many new followers, here's a brand new edition of my editing resources masterposts ✨ (you can find the previous editions here). Make sure you like or reblog the posts below if they’re from other blogs to support their creators! A friendly reminder that some of these are free for personal use only, so be sure to read the information attached to each resource to verify how they can be used.

Textures & Things:

Collage Kits from @cruellesummer that I find myself using basically every single day

Taylor Swift Wax Seals from @breakbleheavens that I also use literally every day

Rookie Magazine Collage Kits (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

Scribble Textures & Cross-Outs (1, 2, 3)

GIF Overlays (1, 2, 3)

Film Grain & Noise Textures (1, 2, 3)

Paper Textures (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

PNG Overlays (Paper, Flowers, Clouds, Stickers, Lips, Vintage Paper, Misc. Symbols)

Halftone, Scan Line, & VHS Noise Textures (1, 2, 3, 4)

VHS Tape Textures by @cellphonehippie

Misc. Texture Packs (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Photoshop Effects (Halftone Text Effect, Chrome Effect, Glitch Effect, Ink Edge Effect, Photo Morph Effect)

Fonts:

Badass Fonts (free fonts designed by womxn 🤍)

Open Foundry Fonts

Free Faces

Uncut Free Typefaces

Some Google Fonts I Like: Instrument Serif, DM Sans, EB Garamond, Forum, Pirata One, Imbue, Amarante

Some Adobe Fonts I Like: New Spirit, Ambroise, Filmotype Yukon, Typeka, Big Caslon CC (TTPD Font!)

Some Pangram Pangram Fonts I Like: Editorial Old, Neue World Collection, Eiko, PP Playground

Fonts In The Wild (font-finding resource)

Tutorials & Resources:

Comprehensive Rotoscoping Tutorial (Photoshop + After Effects, great for beginners!) by @antoniosvivaldi

Rotoscoping & Masking Tutorial (After Effects) by @usergif

Texture Tutorial for GIFs by @antoniosvivaldi

Color Control PSD by @evansyhelp (to enhance, isolate, or lighten specific colors)

Cardigan Music Video PSD by @felicitysmoak

Picspam Tutorial by @kvtnisseverdeen

Moving GIF Overlay Tutorial by @rhaenyratargaryns

GIF Overlay Tutorial (+ downloadable overlays!) by @idsb

Icon & Header Tutorial by @breakbleheavens

GIF Blending Tutorial by @jakeperalta

Split GIF Tutorial by @mithrandirl

Guide to Coloring Yellow-Tinted Shots by @ajusnice

Slow Motion After Effects Tutorial (useful for GIFs!)

Gradient Map Tutorial by me!

Misc:

How to Make Your Own Textures by @sweettasteofbitter

How to Report Tumblr Reposts of Your Work by @fatenumberfor

Tips for Accessible Typography

[shaunashipman]

i told my friend i would find him some beginner’s giffing tutorials, but all the one’s i could find were either years out of date, used a method that made me go “huh”, or incorporated ready-made actions. all perfectly fine, but if i’m sending someone a tutorial i’d rather it be one for a method i understand enough to help with.

so, here is a beginner’s guide to giffing, as told by cleo, a neurotic, detailed, and organization happy individual. there will be many pictures.

this tutorial will strictly cover the gif making portion of the process, from getting your screencaps to importing in photoshop, resizing/cropping, and sharpening. i was going to briefly go over colouring, but tumblr only allows 30 images and i ran out of space, so i'll have to do a separate colouring tutorial (which also means i can go into more detail, yay).

downloading the videos, whether direct downloads or t*rrents, is also another tutorial. but make sure you’re using at least 1080p, and the bigger the file the better. a single episode of a ~45 minute show should ideally be 2gb at minimum. a full length movie should ideally be at least 5gb. imo 2160p/4k files are not really necessary; the quality increase is negligible, and it takes a lot longer to screencap them. if you do use 2160p/4k files, try and make sure it is not HDR, as those videos are often washed out and require a different screencapping program to fix.

Programs

I am using a cracked version photoshop 2022, but whichever version you use should be pretty much the same

Actions. not a program but a function inside photoshop, where you essentially record a series of steps, and then you can simple play that action when needed and those steps will repeat, which saves considerable time when giffing. I will note which parts of the tutorial are best saved as actions, and explain how to create actions at the end.

For screencapping i use kmplayer it’s free and very simple to use

not at all a necessary program, but i use freecommander instead of the regular windows file explorer as i find the dual panels very helpful when moving the frames around

Screencapping

there are many programs you can use to get the screencaps from a video, a lot are basically the same, some are better suited for particular video file types. kmplayer is a very simple program to use, but afaik the capture function only works on mkv. files (the only other file type i’ve tried is mp4, which plays but does not capture)

once you open your video file in kmplayer, we’re going to open the advanced capture window, found under capture→advanced capture, or alt+v

the window should look like this

A-this is where all your screencaps will save to. i recommend making a specific folder for all your screencaps

B-make sure this is set to png for best quality

C-this is the number of screencaps you want to take, guesstimate how many you will need, keeping in mind that most videos are approx. 25 frames per second, and you should always cap a bit more than you think just in case

D-make sure “every/frame” is selected and set to 1

E-make sure “original” is selected, resizing will be done in photoshop

F-make sure “correct aspect ratio” is unselected

go to the part of the video you want to gif, and pause it just slightly before that part starts, then select ‘start’. the screencaps will start to save to the file, no need to play the video, and will automatically stop once it has capped the number of frames you have chosen

and here is how they look inside freecommander. i have already made a folder for this gifset, which is on the left. now you’re going to make a folder for each individual gif. i’ve decided this one will have four gifs, so create four folders (i just label them gif 01, gif 02, etc) and then move the frames for each gif into their respective folder

while you can always delete frames once the gif is made if it’s too big, i prefer to make sure i have the correct number of frames before i start. the gif limit on tumblr is 10mb, so it’s good to look at the scene/shots you’re giffing and decide approx. what dimensions your gif will be. full size gifs have a width of 540px and your choice of height. if you go for a square gif (540x540) you can usually fit 40-50 frames. if you’re planning for a smaller height (such as 540x400) you can usually fit more around 50-60 frames.

and here are the caps inside the folders. another reason i like freecommander is it’s ability to “multi-rename” files. the default file explorer can do so as well, but you have to do each folder individually and you can’t customize the new names as much. either way, i prefer to rename the files to each gif just to scratch my organization itch.

Introduction to Photoshop

NOTE: i have changed many of my keyboard shortcuts in photoshop to ones i prefer, so any you see listed in the menus of these screenshots are likely not the original shortcuts. you can see and change them yourself under edit→keyboard shortcuts

quick run-down of the photoshop interface. i have adjusted placement of some things from the default so this isn’t exactly how your photoshop will look when you open it, but everything is labelled, either on top or by hovering over the element. once you’re more familiar and have your process down i would recommend adjusting the workspace to suit your process.

A-your main tools and colour selector. almost all the tools have either several tools in one, or have alternate options which can be accessed by right-clicking the tool. you can also hover over each tool to get a pop-up with a quick explanation of the tool

B-additional “windows” such as history, properties, actions etc. can be opened from the window menu at the top and moved around with click-and-drag. history and properties should already be there by default, but probably on the right hand side instead. each window opens and closes with a click

C-the timeline window where the gif is made. the white square is a single frame of a gif, and on the row below is the play controls. this will not be there by default and will need to be opened from the window menu

D-adjustment layers for colouring

E-layers box. this is where the screencaps will show, along with adjustment layers, text layers, etc.

Opening Screencaps in Photoshop

go to file → open navigate to the folder for your first gif, select the first screencap, and check the image sequencing, and click open

a window will open labelled frame rate. set it to 23.976 and select ok

the screencaps will open in the timeline view, seen as the blue panel line at the bottom, and the screencaps are combined into video layer in the layer panel on the right.

Creating Frames

technically, you could go right into your cropping/resizing and sharpening from here, however if you do that directly then you have to keep the screencaps in the folders you have, otherwise if you save and re-open the gif it won’t move.

this next part should be made into an action.

at the top right of the timeline window, click four vertical lines to open the menu and select convert frames → flatten frames into clips. depending on how long the gif is, this can take a minute.

the layers panel should now look like this, each frame of the gif is now its own layer.

the very bottom layer will be the video group. this can be deleted as we’ve made the frames from it

in same timeline menu as before, right under “flatten frames into clips”, select “convert to frame animation” and the screen should now look like this. this will be the end of this action.

Cropping and Resizing

with widescreen footage, sometimes it’s just shorter than 1080p, but most of the time it will have the black bars on the top and bottom, and frustratingly, they’re not always the same size. it’s good to save the most common sizes as actions.

to find the size of the actual screen you turn on the rulers under view→rulers and check the height. then open your canvas size dialogue box under image→canvas size and change the height, making sure pixels are selected in the dropdown. yellowjackets is what i call “xtra wide” which is 800px. “normal” widescreen is 960px.

next we’re going to resize the caps. i also make actions for this, one for each potential gif size. open the image size dialogue box under image→image size and change the height of the image to your desired height plus 4 pixels. these extra pixels are to prevent a line at the top and/or bottom of your completed gif. now re-open the canvas size box, change the width to 540px, and the height to the desired, removing those 4 extra pixels. i have set this one to 540x540. this is where you would end the resizing action.

and as you can see she is off-screen. select the top layer, hold down shift and select the bottom layer to select them all, and with the move tool (the very top one) activated, click and drag to move it left to right as needed to centre the figure/s. as you move it a box will appear telling you how far you are moving it in any direction. make sure you are only moving it left or right, not up or down. to be certain of that, open the properties tab.

the y axis is your up/down, x is left/right. for this gif the y needs to stay at -98. you can also manually change the x axis number instead of dragging the image. also helpful for making sure multiple gifs of the same shot are all positioned the same.

the layer are currently ordered with the 1st at the top and the last at the bottom. with all layers still selected, go to layers→arrange→reverse. the last layer will be on top now. if there is movement in your gif, check if you need to alter the position again to make sure the movement properly centred. but once you are satisfied with the position, the layers should be in “reverse” position, of last layer on top. this is to ensure that the gif plays forwards.

Converting Gif

this should also be made into an action, going through sharpening process

in the timeline menu, select “make frames from layers”

the frames are now populated in animation window. in timeline, click select all frames. go to any of the frames on the bottom and click the little arrow beneath it, select other, and enter 0.07 seconds. this is not a necessary step, as we will have to adjust the frame rate at the end, most likely to 0.05, but if we don’t change the frame rate here, then when we play the gif while working on it to check how it looks, it will play very fast.

in the same menu at the right of the timeline box, select “convert to video timeline”

then, making sure all layers in the panel on the right are selected, go to filter→convert for smart filters. this turns all the layers into a single smart object.

but if you look where i’ve circled, it says the gif is 99 frames long*, when in fact there are only 47. if you are making regular “scene” gifs, basic colouring and maybe a caption, this is fine and does not need to be fixed, it will play at the same speed. if you want to change it to display (approx.**) the correct number of frames, go to the timeline menu on the right, select “set timeline frame rate” and change it from 30 to 15

*if it does not list a frame number by 4 digits but instead says 5f, 10f, 15f, etc. go to the timeline menu on the right, select panel options, and change timeline units to “frame number”

**the reason why this is only approximate is because the actual frame rate is not a a whole number, so when changing the frame rate it isn’t a 1:1, and 47 frames becomes 50 frames. the extra frames are removed at the very end, but if you are not doing any edits that require working frame by frame, there’s no need to change the frame rate here at all

Sharpening

this is, as it sounds, making the gif look sharper. to start go to filter→sharpen→smart sharpen and this window opens. play around with the dials to see what each ones does. the below settings are good for most high quality footage.

Amount-basically, how sharp do you want it

Radius-hard to explain, but this essentially sets how deep the lines of the sharpness are

Reduce Noise-smooths the pixels

once you click okay your single layer should look like this.

you’re going to then right click the layer and select duplicate layer. with the top layer selected, go to filters→blur→gaussian blur and set the radius to 1.0 pixels.

then change the opacity of the top layer to 10%. this is to essentially soften the sharpening a bit, as if it’s too sharp it can make the colouring wonky. this opacity level can also be changed depending on need.

finally, select both layers, right click, and click “group from layers”. your gif is now fully made and sharpened.

Colouring

yeah. ran out of image space. but this is where you would do your colouring and add a caption or any other text.

Converting & Exporting

when all your colouring is done, you’re ready to start saving your gif. you can do it directly from your current file, but that means essentially losing your colouring, as all those layers will be merged together. i am someone who likes to save my psd’s (photoshop files), at least until i’ve posted the gifs, in case i need to fix something in the colouring. if you’d like to keep yours as well, open the history tab and select the first icon at the bottom “create new document from current state”. this will open a copy of the file in a new tab. save the original file and you can close it, continuing all work on the copy file.

select your all your layers, convert them into a smart object from filter->convert for smart filters, then follow the same steps from Creating Frames above. once you're back in frame animation, select Create Frames From Layers, and once again set the frame animation speed.

most people set the speed to 0.05. i personally set it to 0.05 or 0.06 depending on the length of the gif. check how it looks at 0.05, if it seems too fast, try 0.06.

now to save. go to file->export->save for web (legacy). the number is the lower left corner is your gif size, it needs to be under 10mb or else you'll have to delete some frames.

the right panel is your save options. the preset dropdown has some built-in settings, but you won't use them because (at least on my version) the presets only go up to 128 colours, instead of the full 256. the 3 i've highlighted in green are the only one's you'll adjust as needed. the settings below i use for i'd say 90% of my gifs. i'll sometimes change the adaptive dropdown to one of the other options, ocaissionaly the diffusion, and rarely the no transparency dither, but play around with them and see how they change the look of the gif.

when you're satisfied with the look of your gif, click save at the bottom right of the window.

voilà! you now have a gif.

Actions

this is your actions panel. the triangle on the left side is the button to open it. remember, if it's not already there, go to windows->actions to open it.

the buttons on the bottom, left to right, are stop recording, record action, play action, new folder, new action, and delete.

as you can see, i have different folders for my resizing, sharpening, captions, saving, and my 1 step (temporary) actions. to run an action is very simple; click the action, and click play.

to create an action, click the new action button, a box will pop up, give the action a name, and click record. the record button at the bottom of the action window will turn red. now perform all the steps you want it to record, and click stop recording. keep in mind it will record every single thing you do, including in other open files, so if the action you plan to record will have a lot of steps, it might help to write them down first.

to modify an action, select the step in the action above where you'd like the new step to be, hit record, perform the step, stop recording. select the step you'd like to delete, and click the delete button.

steps within the actions can be clicked and dragged, both within that action and moved to other actions. actions can also be moved between folders.