Getting started with photoshop

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“Getting Started With Photoshop”

A Photoshop Introduction For Newbies Hello and welcome to the “Getting Started With Photoshop”. This is a complete beginner’s guide on understanding the basics in Photoshop. Getting Started With Photoshop as been set out into 10 parts. Each volume will guide you through the basics of Photoshop starting at the beginning and slowly be working our way through to the more advanced stuff… but don’t worry it’s all aimed at the total newbie. So pull up a chair and relax, and get ready to take control of Photoshop the way it should be.

Summary Of Additional Book Contents

Volume 1 Getting Started With Photoshop Volume 2 Learning The Basic Photoshop Skills Volume 3 Creating Backgrounds Volume 4 Working With Photoshop Text Volume 5 Adjusting Images In Photoshop Volume 6 Manipulating Your Photoshop Images Volume 7 Creating Buttons Volume 8 Advanced Photoshop Techniques Volume 9 12 Proven Ways To Make Your Images Stand Out Volume 10 Recommended Software Products ____________



Volume 1 - “Getting Started With Photoshop” Photoshop Workspace The workspace in Photoshop consists of the following components, which is also known as “outside of the box”.

Menu Bar: The menu bar is the simplest of tools there is, the reason being you’ll find this on most other programs you’ve used in the past. This can be found at the top of you Photoshop window, and once clicked on this will then open up a variety of other

options and tools which can be used in Photoshop.

Options Bar: The options bar again is a simple tool and can be found at top of your Photoshop window, this sits underneath the menu bar, again once clicked on, and this will open an array of different tools.

Toolbox: The tool box is where all your day to day tools are and it sits on the left hand side of your Photoshop window. It sits there by default. This is something you must play around with and get familiar with as much as you can.

Palettes: OK just what are palettes? These are on the left hand side of your workspace and are called “panes”. Each of the individual panes hold information on the image or photo that you’re working with. The palettes can be dragged and dropped into

different location depending on what suits you best and each palette can be minimized too. You’ll see in this image below where each tool is found and how easily they are accessed. There are short cuts for each of the following and I’ll be covering these later on in the coaching newsletter.



Document Windows: The document window is very

straight forward, it’s where your image or photo is visible in Photoshop once it is opened.

Customize Your Workspace In Photoshop everything is possible and customizing your workspace is a must. This helps you plan you workspace so that everything is where you like. Here are five menus which you should customize:

First The Menu Bar Once I’ve opened Photoshop this would be the first menu I would customize. You can even change the colour in your menu items, also this is where you can assign new short cuts if you wish to. If you wish to edit your palette menus you would

need to go to Edit > Menus and then simply use the dialogue box to alter the menu bar.

Second The Options Bar Moving the options bar again is straight forward, all you have to do is click on the handle, which is on the left hand side and then simple move it around your workspace. You will find it will “lock in place” either at the top or bottom of your

screen.

Third Moving Toolbox Moving the toolbox again is straight forward, you simply click on the grey area and then just drag it to where you want it.

Fourth Rearranging Your Palettes There are loads of ways to move or rearrange your palettes. You just might have your palettes set up and then you want to move a palette to a different group, this is simply done by dragging the palette tab at the top and dropping it into your

new group. I could spend a day writing a short book on how to rearrange you palettes, so you really need to play around with palettes moving them and dragging them into different groups.



This might be going over you head a bit but don’t worry everyone has to start from somewhere.

Saving Your Customized Workspace When you become more familiar with Photoshop you’ll slowly find out which palettes you use on a regular basis and others that you hardly ever use. The good thing with Photoshop is it lets you save and load different palettes for different jobs.

Workspace Satisfaction Your workspace needs to be clean and tidy so you know where everything is, so having the correct menus, palettes and knowing your short cuts will help you work more effectively.

Once you are happy with your workspace you then need to save it. Select Window Workspace > Save Workspace. This can be found in the menu bar and you should also give this a name. For example...Alter Images Workspace. Again this will help you work more effectively with Photoshop. If you want to load your different workspaces select Window > Workspace and then just select your workspace from the options it gives you.

Working With Photoshop That’s the easy part out of the way. You should be happy now and have a good understanding of where everything is, now it’s time to start having some serious fun.

Create A New Document This is simple process all you have to do is Select the Menu Bar > File > New, there is a shortcut for this Ctrl-N on a PC or (Command-N on a Mac). Once you have done this a new dialog box will appear. Here you can alter all the

settings such as height, width, resolution colour mode etc.



Open A File Opening new files is very easy. Go to the Menu Bar and select File >, or the short cut is Ctrl-O (Command-O on a Mac). Photoshop also allows you to open multiple files and once again all you have to do is hold down the

Ctrl button and select the files you require (Command on a Mac).

How To Save A File Saving a file is very straight forward, just select File > Save, shortcut key Ctrl-S (Command-S on a Mac). As an automatic default this will save you file as a PSD format, to change this just select File > Save As or pressing Ctrl-Shift-S (Command-Shift-S on a Mac).

How To Save A File From The Web Saving files or images from the web is very simple, just right click your image and save target as. You are given three formats which you can save your files or images in: GIFs, JPEGs, and PNGs. Lets take a quick look at these three formats

and give you some explanation of which formats you should choose.

GIF The GIF format has a maximum of 256 colours and should be used when you’re saving images which have large areas of the same colour. The best example here would a logo from someone’s business.

JPEG The JPEG format is the most commonly used format of the three. This should be used on images which have more than 256 colours and gradients in, the best example here would be and image from a photography website. There is a

downside to JPEG images and that is once it’s saved in this format you image then becomes compressed, those losing the quality of the image.


PNG The PNG format is almost the same as the GIF format, and works best with logo images, so what’s the difference, PNG has the ability to support images which have more transparency in coloured areas and also PNG will give you a better

image once the image has decreased in size. Photoshop gives you two methods when saving an image in PNG – PNG-8 and PNG-24.

Working With Layers This has to be Photoshop’s cream of the cream in tools. Layers are a very powerful feature within Photoshop and when used correctly they can produce the most amazing results. Te best part about layers is you can work on an individual layer with out disturbing the rest. Understanding Layers is really quite simple, and most times beginners get overwhelmed by it. It’s simple to master and once you’ve master it which should take you no more than 30 minutes you’ll wonder how you ever survived without it.

The example to the left shows you how layers actually work within Photoshop. Once you have opened and played around with layers you’ll notice the transparent part in any layer is shown with the chequered grid. This helps the layers below to show through. To show and hide any layer within your layer palette you just need to click on the eye icon.

A must when working with layers is making sure they are organized correctly into Groups. This is simple, all you have to do is go to Layer > New > Group. All layers whether they are grouped layers or non group layers are displayed in the same way. Expanding or collapsing layer groups is straight forward you just have to click on the triangle to the left of the folder icon.

Shortcuts In Layers To rename anyone of the layers you have just created all you have to do is double-click on the layer name.

Changing the transparency in anyone of your layers is done with opacity, all you have to do is slide the Opacity slider one way or the other, or you just could type in the value. Duplicating a selected layer is very simple all you have to do is press Ctrl-J (Command-J on a Mac). Or you can duplicate any layer by just dragging it while pressing the Alt (Option) key.


Selecting multiple layers can be done by pressing down Ctrl (Command on a Mac) then just click on the layer names. Photoshop allows you to link layers together. This process can be done by pressing on them while holding down Shift or Ctrl (Command on a Mac). Now that you have selected all the layers that you want to link just click the link lLayers button at the bottom-left of the layers palette. If you’re not happy with what you’ve linked together no worries you can unlink your layers just go to Layer > Unlink Layers. If you wish to just unlink one layer just click on the layer you wish to remove and click its corresponding link icon, you’ll also notice that the other layers will stay linked. You an also unlink a layer temporarily this is done by pressing, Shift and click on its link icon (a red “X” will appear over the link icon). Reactivate the link by holding down Shift and clicking the link icon again. Layers can be rearranged, all you have to do is just drag and drop them above or below the others layers. The shortcut for this is, “move down” shortcut Ctrl-[ (Command-[ on a Mac) and the “move up” shortcut Ctrl-] (Command-]) to move selected layers up and down. Shift-Ctrl-[ and Shift-Ctrl-] (Shift-Command-[ and Shift-Command-] on a Mac) will bring layers to the very top or the very bottom of the stack. Keyboard shortcuts for selecting a layer are Alt-[ and Alt-] (Option-[ and Option-] on a Mac). You can also move the layers up and down in your palette. Shortcut for creating a new layer, just click Shift-Ctrl-N (Shift-Command-N on a Mac). This automatically brings up the New Layer dialog box. Want to create new layers quickly without having to deal with the dialogue box? Simply press Shift-Ctrl-Alt-N (Shift-Command-Option-N). Photoshop also allows you to merge layers together this is done by pressing Ctrl-E (Command-E). You can only use this shortcut if you have the selected the layers which you want to merge.

Photoshop ToolBox Photoshop’s toolbox is probably the most used tool within Photoshop, so you need to know what its functions are and do. Once you’ve opened the toolbox you’ll notice that there are little black triangles on some of the tool icons, if you hover your mouse over them you’ll notice they have hidden tools.

Selection Tools When you are editing your images you can use the selection tool to edit your image. The area which you have altered will only be affected with the selection


tool. Again to understand this in more detail you have to play around with the settings.

Marquee tools (M) The Marquee tool is used to create rectangular or elliptical images.

Next you’ll come across the Lasso tools (L). The Lasso Tool comes in three different forms: Lasso Tool – Polygonal Lasso Tool and Magnetic Lasso Tool.

Lasso Tool (L) It’s really easy to use the lasso tool, all you have to do is select the area on your image, click you mouse, draw your shape and make sure the ends

match up (Start and end point).

Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) I have found the polygonal lasso tool is by far the most used of the three. All you have to do is click at different points and press enter on your image, making sure the ends match up.

Magnetic Lasso Tool (L) Okay the magnetic lasso tool helps you to select your own area. It’s also known as the smart tool. It very easy to use all you need to do is click once near the “edge” of an object and follows around it. Photoshop automatically lays down a path. To

close this all you need to do is press the Enter key or just click at the point near the beginning.

The Magic Wand Tool (W) The magic wand tool helps you select similar colours, also you can change the colours so this will help you match up your others colours in your image. Again the only way in

which you are going to learn these is trail and error.

The Move Tool The Move Tool (V) - It basically does what it says. It moves a selected area, or you can move the entire layer. To duplicate a layer hold down Alt

key (Option key on a Mac) while using the Move Tool. To invoke the Move Tool temporarily just hold down the Ctrl key (Command key on a Mac).


The Crop Tool The Crop Tool (C) is used to crop an image, To

use the crop tool you just need to double-click the centre of the selection, or press Enter, to crop the image to the size of the selection. To cancel without cropping, select another tool or press the Esc key.

Drawing And Painting Tools Drawing and painting tools are two more great tools in Photoshop’s arsenal. The drawing and painting tool allows you to create different shapes. Once you master these tools you’ll be able to draw anything you like with Photoshop. If you have a look on youtube you find some amazing drawings which have been done in Photoshop.

Brush Tool The Brush Tool (B) can be used on almost anything in Photoshop. It’s very easy to use.

The brush tool gives you loads of different options of different size brushes which you can use, to find the brush tool you need to go into the options bar at the top of the window.

Pencil Tool The Pencil Tool (B) can be used for most drawings within Photoshop; it’s used in the same way as the

brush tool. As you can see from the image below this image was sketched out with the pencil tool. Another way to use the pencil tool is to zoom in on your image and alter each single pixel one at a time.


Eraser Tool The Eraser Tool (E) speaks for its self, it just removes pixels from your image. When using the eraser tool it will give you three options, Brush, Block or Pencil

mode. Again this is trail and error when using it.

Paint Bucket The Paint Bucket Tool (G) is what it say’s it is. It’s fills a select of your image with the colour you have chosen. It’s very easy to use the paint bucket tool, all you have to do is click once in the area that you wish to fill, choose your colour and

click the area.


Gradient Tool The Gradient Tool (G) I personally find the gradient tool to be the dark horse in Photoshop. It doesn’t look much, but it’s very powerful if used correctly. The

gradient tool helps you blend two or more colours, also Photoshop does give you the option of creating your own gradient which is really cool. If you want to display all the different gradients from within Photoshop all you have to do is click on the icon for gradient, and then click on the small black triangle which is on the righthand side. Find the gradient you like and click on it, then drag it to the area where you are going to use it. The two most common gradients used are; foreground-to-background gradient and foreground-to-transparent gradient. If you want to blend your foreground colour into the background colour then you need to use - foreground-to-background gradient. If you looking for a transparent background (fading out) then you need to use foreground-to-transparent.

Text Tool The Text Tool (T), again it say’s exactly what it does. The text tool is very simple to use it just a case of finding the right text and then just start to type. The cool thing with the text tool is that you can have your text in any shape or

size, whether it’s curving or a zig zag pattern it doesn’t matter, it will just follow your command. You also can change the colour of your text, this can be done with the options bar across the top. Once you have the text tool on and it’s active you notice you can move your mouse around the text area. You will see your cursor change from the txt insert to the move insert, you can then move your text layer around to how you like. You should also be aware that when the text tool is active you can’t use shortcuts on your keyboard. If you do you’ll find that in your text you’ll have some very strange characters, this will be down to you trying to do shortcuts with your keyboard


If your after a quick shortcut to finish using the text toll use Ctrl-Enter (Command-Return on a Mac).

Shape Tools In Photoshop it’s very easy to create shapes, it’s a very simple process, all you have to do is select the icon and

then drag and drop it. Photoshop gives you many options, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Line, and Custom Shape tools. As you can see from the image on the right handside there are many options within the options bar. All you have to do is click on the light black triangle and this will open up a flyout. Then just select the correct image tool you need. Also you’ll notice that you can get more methods, infact Photoshop gives you three more methods which you can use to create a shape:

As A Shape Layer (default) This creates a solid coloured layer with a vector layer, again this might seem confusing at first but once you get to grips with it, it’s very simple. As A Path basically this is very simple to understand, the shape you have made will be created as a path in the paths palette. As Filled Pixels Again this is very easy to understand, your shape will be created on whichever layer you have selected. So if you have created it one layer 2, then that’s the layer.

Selecting Colors Selecting colours for your background and foreground is very easy, all you have to do is click on the appropriate tile and then select the colour your after. See the example to the right.


Eyedropper Tool The Eyedropper Tool (I) again is a very useful tool within Photoshop, as this lets you sample other colours from your image. Infact with this

tool you can select any colour from anywhere in your display, and also outside of Photoshop. To use this you need to click on the inside of the document window, then drag the cursor to the colour you wish to sample. Click to select that colour. Again at first this you’ll find this hard and over your head, but all it takes is a little practice and patience. The Eyedropper Tool also has another feature which allows you to set the background colour. This can be done by pressing on the following; hold down the Alt key (Option key on a Mac) as you select colours using the eyedropper. If your Swatch palette is open, use the Ctrl key instead (Command key for Mac users). The other great feature with the eye drop tool, is that you can temporarily turn on the following The Paint Brush, Pencil, Paint Bucket when you using this tool.

The Hand Tool The Hand Tool (H) allows you to move your display anywhere you like within your window, this is very helpful if you’re working with very large images which need altering and moving. The hand

tool can also be invoked, this can be done by pressing down the space bar, this a cool way to position your image exactly where you want it.

Layers Palette Making Your Selection When your working in Photoshop and you have to select a layer to alter a pixel you can just press Ctrl .(Command on a Mac) then just click the thumbnail of the layer. Also Photoshop takes into account the transparency of any pixels, so if

you alter any layer, Photoshop automatically recreates and keeps its original layer.

Understanding Quick Mask Quick mask is the most used tool within Photoshop by the professionals, and when it comes to spilling the beans on how to use it not many pro’s will tell you, so basically you need to learn and understand how this works. At first it will not

sink in and fly right over your head, but it’s not complicated and if I can understand it you can too. So what’s the difference between making a selection and using quick mask? Well nothing really. When you’re ready to use quick mask you need to go into quick mask mode (Q) then just select the tool you want to use. For example brush tool or painting tool and then select the images you don’t need.


As you can see in the image on the left, the eye which has been selected looks transparent red, you can also edit this layer, you might have come across this before in magazines it’s sometimes called “painting a mask”. Once you are happy with your alteration switch back to standard mode. So would do designers prefer to use this technique rather than your trusty selection tools? Quick mask has two great advantages over the standard tools: 1 – Quick mask allows you the control the transparency of your selection, thus making life easier.

2 – The next one might take a bit to get your head around it, but it’s easier to colour in any object using quick mask. If you spend 30 minutes playing around with quick mask you’ll soon learn how simple it becomes.

Learning How To Understand Alpha Channels and Selections Using alpha channels again is very straight forward and it can be used to create selections, which you should save, because you might use then later on.

Once you’ve opened your channels palette you’ll see several different channels to choose from. Once in the channels palette Photoshop defaults to the colour channel, this shows you how much colour is in each image. If you look at the image below you’ll see you can click on the create new channel icon at the bottom to create your own alpha channel. Once set up you can then use them in any of Photoshop’s drawing tools or paint tools, this automatically creates a greyscale image, which represents your selection. If the area is white it means it’s been selected, if the area is black it means it’s been deselected, if you look at the greys in you r image this means the level of transparency. The shortcut for turning your alpha channel into a selection is Ctrl and click the channel’s thumbnail (hold Command and click if you’re on a Mac).


Once you’re happy and you want to return to the normal view just click on the layers palette tab. Photoshop also gives you the option of creating your own alpha channels, which is a very useful tool. So if you have a background which you like, and you want to save it, just Select > Save Selection. Make sure you give your selection a name and click OK. To view your newly channel just enter your channels palette and you’ll see your new selection right at the bottom of the list.

Learning About The History Palette Here is another hidden gem in Photoshop, this simple tool can make your life so easy. The history palette lists your most recent steps that you have made on your image. The cool thing here, it allows you to undo any unwanted actions you have made back to the pervious state. The other cool thing within the history palette, is it allows you to set you own limit of steps backwards in its memory. To use this go to Edit > Preferences > General (Photoshop > Preferences > General on a Mac). There are shortcuts which you can use with the history palette for quick access. Ctrl-Z (Command-Z on a Mac) lets you undo and redo the previous step. Ctrl-Alt-Z (Command-Option-Z) steps back through the History palette. Shift-Alt-Z (Shift-Option-Z) steps forward through the History palette.


Killer Shortcut Keys Mac users should treat the [Alt] key as the [Option] key and the [Control] key as the [Command] key IMAGE ADJUSTMENTS No doubt you’ll need to tweak things such as levels and colour values on occasion. These shortcuts will take you to the heart of the Image > Adjustments menu Adjust Levels....[Ctrl]+[L] Auto Levels....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[L] Auto Contrast....[Alt]+[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[L] Auto Color....[Shift]+[ Ctrl]+[B] Curves....[Ctrl]+[M] Color Balance....[Ctrl]+[B] Hue/Saturation....[Ctrl]+[U] Desaturate....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[U] Invert....[Ctrl]+[I] SUPER-FAST SELECTIONS Copy, paste and modify selections more quickly to speed up your workflow Constrain marquee....[Shift]+drag when first creating selection Draw marquee from centre point....[Alt]+drag when first creating selection Select All....[Ctrl]+[A] Deselect....[Ctrl]+[D] Add to existing marquee selection....[Shift]+drag Subtract from existing marquee selection....[Alt]+drag Hide marquee selection (but keep it active)....[Control]+[H] Nudge empty marquee selection....Use arrow keys Nudge empty marquee selection in larger increments....[Shift]+arrow keys Copy and move selection....Select the Move Tool, hold down [Alt] and drag Fade....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[F] Paste Into....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[V] FILE MANAGEMENT Browse, open, close and save your files for a variety of formats, all at the touch of a key – or three New File....[Ctrl]+[N] Open File....[Ctrl]+[O] Open File Browser....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[O] Save....[Ctrl]+[S] Close....[Ctrl]+[W] Save As....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[S] Save for Web....[Alt]+[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[S] Undo last action....[Ctrl]+[Z] Step Forward....[Shift]+[Control]+[Z] Step Backward....[Alt]+[Ctrl]+[Z] Page Setup....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[P] Print....[Alt]+[Ctrl]+[P] Print with Preview....[Ctrl]+[P] Print One Copy....[Alt]+[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[P]


Jump to ImageReady....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[M] LAYER MANAGEMENT Who needs to click icons or pull down menus when layer control is just a shortcut away? Show/hide Layers palette....Press [F7] New Layer....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[N] New Layer (from copy of selected layer)....[Ctrl]+[J] New Layer (cutting selection from existing layer)....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[J] Group with previous layer....[Ctrl]+[G] Ungroup from previous layer....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[G] Merge Down....[Control]+[E] Merge Visible Layers....[Shift]+[Control]+[E] To hide non-selected layers....Press [Alt] and click on the layer’s show/hide Eye icon To cycle between layers....[Alt]+[ [ ] and [Alt]+[ ] ] To bring a layer in the layers palette forward....[Ctrl]+[ [ ] To send a layer back....[Ctrl]+[ ] ] To jump from the top to the bottom layer in the Layers palette....[Alt]+[Shift]+[ [ ] To bring a layer to the top from any location....[Shift]+[Ctrl]+[ ] ]

Volume 1 Summary I have tried to give you a small introduction to the most common tools used in within Photoshop. Also I have tried to explain a few simple tasks within Photoshop. The one thing you must start to use is the shortcuts keys which I have given to you through out this coaching volume1 guide, once you start using the shortcut keys they will save you time and help you become faster within Photoshop.


Volume 2 - “Learning The Basic Photoshop Skills” Learning How To Place A Graphic In Photoshop Once you’ve started to play around with Photoshop, you’ll want to import graphics or images which you have. This process is so easy within Photoshop. To be honest there are several ways which this can be done, and once you start to learn them you’ll then have you favourite. There are two names we give external graphics which have been placed in Photoshop and they are Raster layers or Smart Objects. They are not that important but you need to have some form of understanding of them. Okay, lets get straight to it, how do we place these graphics within Photoshop.

How To Place An External Image First you need to have you image or graphic ready. Then you need to select copy > paste or the short cut key is Ctrl-V (Command-V on a Mac) then paste it into your Photoshop document you have just created. Photoshop automatically makes

you a new layer which has you image in, remember you need to name your layers. This layer is also called the raster layer.

Placing Flattened Image From Within Files Flattened images can come in many different formats – GIF,PNG, JPEG, they come as a single layer. So if you want to place a flattened image in your Photoshop document, just select your image by copying it, then open your

document and press select Edit > Paste or press Ctrl-V (Command-V) to paste it. Depending on which layer you have picked Photoshop will paste your image in that layer.

Transferring Different Layers To Different Documents Photoshop allows you to place layers from within a different Photoshop document and

this is a really cool trick. So what do you need to do? Simply position your two documents so you can see them both, then click the window from which you want to import. You must bring up the layer palette and then simple drag and drop the layers which you need. This can be done by clicking the mouse and then releasing the mouse when you see a thick black outline on the window you're working on. This simply copies the layer(s) across, and Photoshop still keeps the original layers from within the other window.


How To Place Your Image As A Smart Object This is very straight forward and all you have to do is Select File > Place and then choose the image you want to import and just click place to import file in to

Photoshop and then choose smart object as you can see from the image below. Once you have made your choice (Smart Object) Photoshop automatically place’s a bounding box around it. The bounding box helps you move, scale and rotate your object. Once you have finished and you are happy all you need to done is double click in side the bounding box and this will place your smart object to it’s layer.

Smart Objects and Raster Layers Smart Objects are simply files that appear in there own layer. How do you know what is a smart layer? If you look at your palette you’ll see an icon that overlays the thumbnail image displayed in the Layers palette. What you also

find with smart objects is that the layers are different and this is because they are linked to the source file. Raster layers or some times called (Regular Layers) is always fully editable. This means you do basically anything you like to it within Photoshop. There are pros and cons to both and by using them more you’ll find what works best for you. The great thing with smart layers is you don’t lose the image quality if you're resizing whereas with raster layers you do and you’ll find your image become blurred.

Resizing An Image Or A Document You’ll find in Photoshop that most images will need resizing, and with a few clicks of the mouse this can be achieved. It’s a simple task but I would say it’s the most common one used within Photoshop.


Okay all you need to do is click on Image tab across the top > Image > Image Size , short cut for this is Ctrl-Alt-I (Command-Option-I on a mac). Here you can alter your image size anyway you like.

As you can see on the image above Photoshop lets you alter your Image either in pixels or inches. Plus Photoshop also allows you to alter the resolution for your image once you have changed the size of it.

How To Resize A Layer Or Selection If you’re resizing any image in Photoshop it automatically allows you to resize any image without affecting the overall size of your document. Another tool built into Photoshop’s arsenal. If you want to resize an image within your layer palette, all you have to do is just select the images you wish to resize by using the selection tool. If you don’t use this you’ll end up resizing them all.


As you can see from the image above this has been resized, so you got more of your picture focusing on the dragonfly. Once you have made your selection buy using the following keys Edit > Free Transform or press Ctrl-T (Command-T on a Mac). You’ll then see a Bounding box appear around you image. This can then be dragged in or out by clicking your mouse on the handles at either corner. You might find that your image will get misshaped and out of proportion and all you need to do is hold down the Shift key and resize it by using the corner handles in all four corners.

How To Rotate A Layer Or Selection What you do find in Photoshop is that some commands can be used twice to do two different commands, but you need to be in different parts of Photoshop for this to happen. If you’d like to rotate a an image in a layer all you have to do is press Edit > Free Transform or press Ctrl-T (Command T), and you also need to move your mouse outside the bounding box. Once you have done that, you’ll notice if you put your mouse over the bounding box corners that a curved two headed arrow appears and this gives you the option of rotating your image to which ever angle you wish. If you're looking for 15 degree movements all you need to do is hold the shift key down. You can also put a specific rotation angle in, which is very helpful when you're adding new images and this can be done through the text box in the options bar. Once your happy with your placement of your new image just press enter or double-click inside the bounding box to complete the transformation.

Creating Lines With Your Drawing Tools Photoshop allows you to create anything you like and you can manage to draw with it’s drawing tool so lets have a look at the most common two lines used in Photoshop.

Horizontal and Vertical Lines To create Horizontal and Vertical Lines is very simple and straight forward and all you have to do is either use the brush or pencil

tool on your document. Then move your mouse so the


cursor is in a position from where you want your line to be drawn. Now you just need to click your mouse and hold it down and move your mouse in a straight line. This will draw you a line and then just release when you’ve finished, and you have the correct length you're after.

Diagonal Lines Again using the brush or pencil tool just position your mouse where you want your line to start from and just click once on your mouse, and then hold down shift and find the spot on your document where you’d like your line to finish and

Photoshop automatically fills in your diagonal line.

Create Squares and Circles Like anything in life if you have tried to draw the perfect square or circle you’ll find this virtually impossible. But this is where Photoshop again comes into its own. If you hold down your shift key down when you’re creating your shape you‘ll

find that Photoshop makes you the perfect shape i.e. circle, square rectangle.

Rounding Edges On A Rectangle This is very straight forward you just use the rounded rectangle tool shown above. You can get more complex with your rectangles by just making one, two or three corners rounded.

First you need to create a rounded rectangle and you do this by selecting the rounded rectangle tool. You must make sure you choose the shape layers option which is in the option bar. Next you need to choose the convert point tool as shown in the image on the right. This will be found in the Pen Tool and if you hover your mouse over the little black triangle you’ll get a flyout. Now click on your image and you’ll see little white squares in each corner, in fact you’ll see eight. Now you need to decide on which corner you want to straighten up. Once you have chosen your corner click on each of the white anchor points, they are the ones which make up the rounded rectangle corner. Okay you now need to select the direct selection tool, hold down the shift key and drag it across to make your corner straight. See image... Your nearly there, now all you have to do is Select delete anchor point tool as shown in the image above and click on the bottom point to delete it and that’s it.


Creating Curved Designs There are many times when you’re using Photoshop that you’ll have to add some curved lines to an image you're-creating or making from scratch. But just how to you do that? It’s simple if you know how...The Pen Tool. So just how do you create curves? Will we be using a tool called the vector drawing tool again, a hidden gem within Photoshop? The pen tool is used completely different to the pencil and brush tool. With the pencil and brush tool all we did was clicked and dragged our mouse to make our shape. Now the pen tool is used by setting anchor points and this is how you can create your curves for the shape you’re making. It’s a bit tricky at first but the only way you’re going to master it is like anything else in Photoshop, which is to play around with it. Now before you go rushing off to create your new shapes, here’s a test for you on how to create a basic triangle Okay now go and open your pen tool with a blank document. All you need to do is click one point on the blank document, and then click your second point and then your third, you’ll see that you’ll have created a triangle, to finish all you have to do is click enter and that’s it. How simple is that. Now comes the tricky bit creating curves. Once you understand how to create the basic curves there will be no stopping you. Okay lets start by clicking your blank work document, next drag your mouse and you should now see two lines on your document. On the line you have used created you’ll see some little square boxes and these are known in the Photoshop world as “handlebars” or “Bezier Control Handles”.


As you can see in the example above the handlebars determine the curvature of your path on the line to make your curve.

Creating Your First Curved Shape. Lets create our first curve in Photoshop 1 - Start by selecting the pen tool and click once to create a point.

2 – Now hold down your shift key and click some way above the point you have just made and create a straight vertical line. 3 – Next, you need to create another straight line. Keep your shift key held down and click to the left or right of the line you have just made and create a horizontal line. 4 – At this point we still need to keep the shift key held down. Next we need to create another vertical line below the last point you just made, but make sure this line is a bit shorter. 5 – Nearly there now, you just need to create a horizontal line. See the image. Now all you have to do is put your mouse on the image you have just drawn and hold down the shift key and click and drag to create another point. 6 – Once you‘re happy all you need to do is click once to close it. As you become more advanced within Photoshop you’ll find yourself creating more complex vector shapes. You can save these shapes, which can be used later on if you need them by using the custom shape tool.

Selecting Your Vector Shape 1 – To select and edit your new vector image or

shape just click on the path selection tool. Next select Edit > Define Custom Shape. Find your image and click OK. To use your new image or shape just Select the Custom Shape Tool and to see your image or shape just scroll the list.


Sample Colours In Images

There are many times in Photoshop you’ll need to sample a colour which you might be working with. Most of the time you can view your images through Photoshop, but if this is not possible try opening it up in paint or any other image web browser you might have. To sample the colour of you image (If Opened In Photoshop) you need to select the Eyedropper Tool, to grab the colour your after all you need to do is click on the image, this then will select the fore ground colour for you. If you have not managed to open your image within Photoshop, and you’ve used paint, all you need to do is resize both window i.e: Photoshop and your image so you can see both on your screen, and just Select the Eyedropper Tool. Now click anywhere and drag the eye drop tool to the image you need and click on it. This will set your foreground.

How To Discover The Hexadecimal Colours Some times when your working in Photoshop you’ll find the colour you're after can not be matched properly and this is when the hexadecimal codes comes in. All colours within Photoshop have a six digit code. Photoshop gives you two ways of finding the colour's code, Info Palette and Colour Picker.

Info Palette Photoshop by default shows you your info palette if you move your mouse around your image. The automatic settings within Photoshop are set to RGB and CMYK. Colour Picker Another great way to view your hexadecimal colour code is through the colour picker. The codes are displayed within the boxes.


Layer Transparency And How To Adjust It To change the layer transparency you need to use the opacity field and this can be found in the layers palette. A really simple and very effective way of using the transparency layer effect is with the move or crop tool when they are selected. All you need to do is change the number, and then if by magic the opacity level will change, again you need to play around with this to find out which settings you need.

Learn How To Fade An Image Everyone who uses Photoshop has to fade an image sometime or another. You’ll find all the images have been faded on the front page of all the magazines. It’s a great way of getting your images to blend in with your background. Photoshop gives you many ways of doing this, but we are going to look at the following too...layers and gradients masks.

The first thing you need to do is have your image in the correct position on your layers. So this means having your background and the image on two different layers.

Next we need to create a layer mask. This is simple we need to select the image layer and click the add layer mask icon. After you have clicked and selected this you’ll see a blank rectangular thumbnail. You need to make sure this is selected. Now the fun part as we now need to use the gradient tool which you can see on the right. Set your foreground colour to the colour you have in mind, and then choose foreground to transparent gradient.

To get the faded image on the left you just need to do the following. You must first apply the gradient by clicking on bottom edge of your image and slowly drag your mouse upwards. Also you need to hold down the shift key, this helps you to keep the gradient path straight. When you are happy just release click the mouse and the

gradient will stop and your image or picture will now be faded.


How To Blend Two Images Another trick which is used in Photoshop is blending two images together. This simple trick can be used for some really cool images. First you need two images, then make sure one image overlaps the other. Arrange your Photoshop document so that one of the images overlaps the other, as shown in the example below. It’s always best if your images do have the same colours in. First you need to create a layer mask, this must be the top layer and then you need to apply the gradient tool. You can also use the brush tool. Both will give you a faded effect. Sometimes you might just over do it a bit by hiding to much and a simple process of getting this back is by painting them back, but this must be on a white layer mask.

How To Round Corners On Your Image This is straight forward. You need to select the rounded rectangle tool, then you must choose the paths options. This helps you to create a rounded rectangle path which will go over your picture or image.

If you go into your palette and click on the paths palette, then select Select Layer > Vector Mask > Current Path. Photoshop automatically creates a vector mask which will be the rounded rectangle you have just picked.

How To Digital Blend In Photoshop Just what is digital blending? This merges a deliberately underexposed shot with a deliberately overexposed shot to create a composite image with more visible shadow areas.


1 - If necessary, adjust the digital exposure compensation of your image so that the highlights are not blown out. We are only boosting shadows, not averaging shadows and highlights as we do with digital blending. 2 - Load the image into Photoshop CS, and select Image->Adjustments->Shadow/Highlight. Ensure the "Show More Options" box is checked. Play around with the three adjustments in the Shadows box. The first thing I do is to increase Radius from the default of 30 to at least 500. Look at an area in your image where there is an abrupt change between dark and light and you will see an odd blurring side effect. Increasing the radius reduces this effect, but it also changes the contrast of the image. Adjust Amount to get a reasonable looking image. Don't worry if it's lacking in contrast a little. 3 - Select Filter->Sharpen->Unsharp Mask. Select a radius of 250 pixels (yes, that is correct) and an amount of about 20-30%. Check and uncheck the preview box to see the effect this has on the contrast. You may need to reduce saturation slightly after this step since the contrast enhancement gives the colours more "punch."

Before After

How To Make Your Coupon Offer Box If you have your own website and you’re doing new offers or discounts, Photoshop has a really cool tool which allows you to create a dotted box around your offer. See image below.


1 – The first thing here is to Select the Brush Tool and next you need to open the brushes palette. Once this is open you’ll need to click in the top hand corner and select the brushes palette. 2 - Open the Brushes palette. Click on the small arrow in the top right-hand corner and select Square Brushes. This then will give you two options; replace or append. I nearly always click append and add a default brush. Then just click okay. 3 - Next you need to choose the brush which you are going to use and you need to make sure the brush you have selected is the correct length for the dotted lines you need. It doesn’t really matter, because you can always adjust the diameter with the slider bar. If you find that the brush you have chosen isn’t correct, you can quash it. To do that you’ll need to click on the circle in the dialogue box and drag it one way or the other. 4 – Once this is done you then need to click on the scattering check box and set the scattering to 0% 5 – Okay let's start to draw your box. The first thing you need to do here is find the colour you need and you’ll find that most coupon boxes are coloured in black. To do this you need to create a new layer and at the same time hold down your shift key and drag across your blank document to draw your first horizontal line. 6 - Your next steps here are to finish off your box. Next you need to draw a vertical line and you can do this by rotating the axis by 90 degrees. You can do this in the brushes palette. 7 – Just keep following the step above until you have your dotted coupon box See the image above for your coupon offer box.


How To Make A Drop Shadow On Your Image This is a real cool trick, which can look amazing on your photos. First you need to choose the layer which you’ll by applying the drop shadow to. Then you need to select Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow. You will have to play around the Opacity, distance, angle and the other settings within the layer style dialogue box. Once you’re happy with your drop shadow just press OK and that’s it. Play with the opacity, angle, distance, and other settings in the Layer Style dialogue box until you’re happy with the effect. Note that the value for Angle will affect all drop shadows in your document, so that the light source is consistent across your entire image.

How To Work With An Image On An Transparent Layer Sometimes when your working within Photoshop you’ll open a image which has a transparent areas. This is shown by chequered patterns. See Image. If you need to save an image from the web you need to save this as a GIF file and the reason for this is because GIFs meet your needs for transparent images. You’ll also find that with some images you save will have smooth crisp edges and this is a result of anti-aliasing.


If you was to place this image on a coloured background you would need to click on custom matte colour. If you don’t, sometimes you’ll end up with this “colour halo” around your image. Your finished image should look something like this.

How To Fake A Reflection In Photoshop Creating fake reflections in Photoshop is so simple and can be done in just a few steps. But you need to remember your reflection needs to look real. Make sure you have a look at the before and after images below. 1 - Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the top section of the image; make sure you include the base of the bridge. Copy and paste it into a new layer. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical to create an upside-down version of the bridge. 2 - Select the flipped reflection layer, and to give the reflection a sense of perspective go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur. Experiment with different values; The trick to pulling off special effects image-editing is not to overdo the filter value. To get the perspective of the blur right ,move the Blur Centre so that it matches the horizon in the image. 3 - In real life reflections don’t show up in the highlights of a rippling surface. To fake this effect we’ll use the original image’s highlights to break up our reflection. Select the reflection layer and change its blending mode to Overlay. This blends the filter created reflection with the highlights of the layer underneath.


Volume 2 Summary In volume 2 I've tried to cover what you need to know about adding basic graphics for backgrounds, I've also tried to cover how to resize your images, understanding how the text tool works, learning how to add and change colours and how to blend and fade images. All this will help you become more efficient when your working in Photoshop.


Volume 3 - “Creating Backgrounds”

Learning How To Make a Tiling Background This is the most common one used within Photoshop, In fact I would say that 60% of backgrounds you see are tiling backgrounds. As you know tiling backgrounds can look very affective if done correctly, and that’s because Photoshop allows you to repeat your image seamlessly and you can do this with any shape or pattern you like. See background image below.

Custom Shapes First thing you need to do is create a new Photoshop document and you then have two options... either create your own or use the default shapes which Photoshop gives you by using the Custom Shape Tool (U). You must then put

each shape into it’s own layer and this allows you to manoeuvre it around later on if you wish. Okay once this is done, and you are happy, hold down Shift and click on each shape’s layer in the Layers palette. You need to select them all. Right-click (hold Ctrl and click on a Mac)... after this you then need to select one of the layers and choose duplicate layers found in the menu which will appear. To merge all the layers you need to do the following... Select your layer > Merge Layers or press Ctrl-E (Command-E). What we are doing here is creating a raster layer by merging all the layers


together and duplicating them into one layer. If you wish to hide the original shape just click on the layer eye icons which can be found in the palette menu on the right. I know this is a bit long winded, but it will help you if you have to revert back later on.

Now if you were to use your own images which you fancy for your background, you would have to do it the following way because if you didn’t you’d find gaps between your images. It's very simple to correct this...Select Filter > Other > Offset. You can see the “Offset” box below. The simple way here would be to set your “resize your image” to half the size and then make sure the wrap around option is ticked, and that’s it. Plus a good tip here would be to have the preview box ticked. Simple as that and always make sure you save it once you're happy, and there you have the tiled background for your website. Below you see a great example of a water fall which has been repeated on it’s web page. Must admit this can look really effective when used right.


How To Create a Photographic Background This way is a little bit trickier, but it can be done in the same way as above and it’s worth giving it a go just to see which way suits you best. What we are looking for here is the image to retain its absolute authenticity. See image below... In the example above you can see we have used oranges for our tile. If you decided to do a tiled background you must always make sure that what ever you’re trying to blend in, blends in with the simplest of ease. As you can also see from the image above only a selection has been used to tile. One thing to keep in mind when you’re doing this is make sure the perspective of your image is correct, because if it’s larger at the front or back, then it’s not going to work. Okay let’s try the next example:

Open your image and make sure you copy the selection which you want to use for tiling. Next you need to paste this into its own layer and you must then duplicate this layer using Ctrl-J (Command-J)... then apply the offset filter to the new layer. For the next step you need to have both images open

(original image and tiled image) because we are going to clone areas from the original image in to the new image and after that we’ll be using the cloning tool to clone the area.


Make sure you’re in the original image and have your tiled area ready. You now need to select the Clone Stamp Tool (S), hold down Alt (Option) just click once in your area because this will set up your source for the clone stamp. The next step is very important... you must always create a new layer and you can name it anything you like, but I suggest you name it something like “your first clone”. The next step is to choose a brush and this can be found in your options bar on the left hand side and paint your new layer. You’ll see once you begin to paint a cross-hair and this will move in your original image. This is just to show you where you are cloning from. You may find from time to time after you have been cloning that you’ll want to switch to the Move Tool (V), as you‘ll need to very carefully line up your cloned patch with the offset layer beneath it. Your next process after doing all that is to add another layer mask to your clone layer and this is done by clicking on “Add layer mask” button which can be find at the bottom of the Layers palette. You’ll also need to set your foreground colours to black. Next grab a brush; I would normally go with a soft-edged brush and just paint around your clone section, and this will help it blend into your background. Nearly there and the next step is to create another layer from within your tile image. Select the Clone Tool (S). Holding down Alt (Option)... now just click in your original photo image as we are now going to set up another source point. The reason being is because we are going to clone more areas into your new layer on your tile image. After you have done all this you need to add another new mask layer. All we are doing here is just repeating the process so after a while it will all blend in. There may also come times when you need to shuffle your layers around so they all fit nice and neat. I know you might be thinking this is hard, but after a few goes you’ll soon get the hang of it. Like I keep saying it's the end product that counts and not how fast you can do it.


How To Make Striped Background For me this is one of the coolest backgrounds which you can create, in fact for most of my websites , I’ve added stripped backgrounds in them. They are very simple and quick to make. In Photoshop we can create different types of stripped backgrounds and the three most used and most common are, Horizontally, Vertically and Diagonally. All are very easy to create and can be created within minutes. As you can see from the image to the right the diagonally striped background looks very effective with text.

Horizontally-striped Background The first thing we need to do here is create a new document. I know this might seem a little bit strange and weird as we are only creating a pixel which is just 1 pixel wide by 2 pixel high. You can alter the height if you like as it determines the

spacing between each stripe and once you’ve done a few examples you’ll see what I mean. For my example I’ll be sticking to the very basics, which is 1 pixel by 2 pixels. You now need to select the Pencil Tool (B)... after that you need to select your foreground colour for your strip and I suggest you play around with your colours at first to find out which one will work best for you. On your new layer, you will need to draw a dot near the bottom of the canvas and at times it’s best to zoom in at this point just to see a close up of what you're doing. Your next and final step is to hide your background layer and this is done by clicking on the eye icon in your layers palette. Select File > Save for Web. That’s it now once you have saved your image and it’s ready to use for your background. Once you have mastered the basics of your first horizontal strip, try making some bigger or even making some in funny shapes.

Vertically-striped Background To be honest creating a vertically striped background is just the same as creating a horizontally striped background, but with one difference. All you need to do is make sure your new document is 1 pixel by 1 pixel or 2 pixel’s by 2 pixel’s, I think

you get my drift, and just draw your dot on the vertical edge.

Diagonally-striped Background This one is completely different and you’ll need to create a new document which has square dimensions. A simple one to create would be 5 pixels by 5 pixels. You should use the pencil tool here for your lines. Again if you can’t see clearly, just

zoom in.


Again like above, hide your background layer and this is done by clicking on the eye icon in your layers palette. Select File > Save for Web. That’s it now when you have saved your image and it’s ready to use for your background.

How To Make A Pixel Background Okay in this example we are going to create a more complex shape by using a single pixel. This is going to be done by using the Pencil tool again. Let’s start off by creating a new document. We are going to be using the Pencil Tool (B) and selecting the colour for your background. Okay, create a new layer and select background colour and then save. The next step is to create your pattern and always make sure you change the colour so you can see what you're doing. See image below for my pattern.


Once you’re happy with your pattern you’re going to have to select its layer in the Layers palette and duplicate it using Ctrl-J (Command-J on a Mac). The reason we are doing this is because we need to hide the original layer. In the next stage we need to apply offset filter to the new layer. Once that’s done and you're ready to move on to the next stage just save your image... but you must “Save this > Save for Web”. Below you’ll see what it will look like once it’s been repeated for your web page.

How To Create A Gradient Background Another great tool to have in your arsenal is to know how to create a gradient background. It’s a very simple trick but it's very effective when used correctly. All you need to do here is create a new document within Photoshop. For horizontal gradient you’re going to have to have a small width and larger height. For the Vertical gradient you’re going to do it the opposite way. After that all you need to do then is repeat your image for your web page. You will find that sometimes your image doesn’t fit, but don’t worry as you always have the crop at your finger tips. If you look at the image below, the background has been gradient filled and also an image has been added.


Your First Gradient Background Your first step now is to create a new document and once you have done this your next step is to find the colours for your gradient tool which you are going to use for your foreground and background. Apply your gradient by selecting Select

File > Save for Web. After you have completed these steps you’ll find that your image is ready for your web page. Here are some really cool gradient backgrounds and as you can see with the correct gradient background in, you can really make a picture look cool.

How To Create A Different Backgrounds Brushed Background Again, another really cool tool within Photoshop. To create a brushed background is really simple and all you

need to do is create a new layer. Fill it with the colour you're after, then Select Filter > Noise > Add Noise. You’ll then see a dialogue box...you need to choose Uniform distribution with the Monochromatic option checked. Now it’s up to you on how much contrast brushed metal effect you want.


Now you need to select Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. I normally set the Angle to 0 and adjust the distance bar until I’m happy, but it’s best if you play around with this. The image below was set to 120 pixels.

You may find out that your image may have some form discrepancy between the centre and all you need to do here is just crop it until you feel happy about it. See image below. Now you need to duplicate the layer in your layers palette and to do this you need to use the following...Ctrl-J (Command-J on a Mac) then apply the Offset filter to your duplicated layer. For your next step you need to click on the Add layer mask

button which can be found at the bottom of the Layers palette and the reason you're doing this is because it adds a layer mask to the offset layer. If need be you can remove any visible edges and to do this just use the Brush Tool (B), and very important... you need to set the foreground colour to black and just paint around the centre of your image. Again very important here you need to make sure you're painting on the mask and not your image. With Photoshop’s automatic system falling into place, you’ll find the layer beneath will show through. Now all you need to do is continue to blend both layers. If you need to lighten your background just click on the white slider bar and drag it from side to side until you’re happy. As you can see from the image to the right you’ll see a brushed background with a button in it...just how cool does that look. Next, I’m going to show you three more great examples of how to make backgrounds for your web page. Starting with Granite, Wood-grain effect, and Textured Stone

Granite Background Let's start off by filling in your background layer. I would suggest you use a grey colour, then Select Filter > Noise > Add Noise...you will need to bring up the

noise dialogue box. See image to right. The next step here would be to set your amount to roughly 50% and again you’ll need to play around with this. After that make sure the Monochromatic option is checked.

The next step you need to select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... here you’ll have to set a Radius of .5 pixels in the dialogue box. Now select Edit > Fade Gaussian Blur or press Shift-Ctrl-F (Shift-Command-F on a Mac). The next step is very important, because if it’s not done in the correct order it


will not work. Bring up the fade dialogue box and fade your effect to the percentage you're after. With bringing up the fade dialogue box first, it allows you to blur your effect.

Your next step is to apply the Offset filter (you should have remembered this from the tiling example earlier on). If you find it’s got some faint edges, just use your clone stamp tool to clone your areas and don’t forget you can zoom in if you like. Your granite background should look some like this.

Wood-Grain Background Next we are to have a look at making a wood-grain background and it’s very similar to our last example (Granite Background).

Okay we need to fill your background layer with the colour you want for your wood. Next we are going to add the noise filter like we did above. Select Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Again the dialogue box appears and set your amount to the percentage you like and make sure the Monochromatic option is checked. Once you have done this you’ll need to bring up the Motion Blur dialogue box by selecting Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. As you can see from the image below I have set my alterations to Angle -77 and the distance is 73 Pixels. I would suggest you set yours to about... Angle to 0° and the Distance 73 pixels. Again you need to play around with this to get the effect you’re looking for.


The next few steps are very important as you’ll be altering your image to the type of wood you're after. To do this you’ll be using Hue/Saturation and Levels commands and these allow you to brighten the wood and give it a richer hue. ... select Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation or use the short cut Ctrl-U (Command-U on a Mac)... this will then bring up the Hue/Saturation dialogue box. What you need to do now is use your sliders to alter your values. This will increase or decrease your Hue/Saturation. I would recommend going for a value of around 50 for the saturation. By doing this it will help the colours of your wood grain look brighter. For your next step you need to select Image > Adjustments > Levels or press Ctrl-L (Command-L).

What we are looking for here is to adjust the contrast by sliding the sliders. Again you’ll need to play around with this to find what works for you. Once this has been done and you're happy we are then going to apply the liquefy filter. To do this you need to select Filter > Liquefy. I find this tool to be a real gem because of some of the effects you can create with it. As you can see from the image below the Liquefy filter dialogue has a lot to offer you. It’s worth spending an hour just playing around and finding out what each option gives you. To get the wood-grain effect we are going to use three tools; Forward Warp, Turbulence and Clockwise Twirl. Like I said the best thing here is to just play around and experiment with it until you get the correct texture you’re looking for.


Again we will be using the same steps as we used before for the (Granite Effect). You now need to duplicate your layer and then apply the offset filter. Once you have done that, then apply a layer mask to the offset layer. You’ll need to blend in your seams by using the Brush Tool (B) and I would select a soft-edged brush for doing this. You’re nearly done and all you have to do is save this > Save For Web, and that’s it.


Textured Stone Background Now for the textured stone background effect. You’ll need to set your documents foreground colour first and I nearly always use black. Then you’ll have to set your background colour to white. Your next step here would be to create a new layer,

but make sure it’s above your background layer and then select Filter > Render > Clouds. Photoshop automatically creates a cloud pattern by default from the colours you have chosen. Your cloud pattern will alter slightly ever time you do this. Your next step is to open your Channels palette. You need to do this because you’ll be creating a new channel button and I would call this Alpha 1. Next select Filter > Render > Difference Clouds. You need to intensify your clouds and to do that just press Ctrl-F (Command-F) to repeat the last filter command. Keep pressing Ctrl-F (Command-F) down until you're happy with your cloud. What we are looking for here is to have the light proportions almost equal. Like I keep saying you’ll have to play around with the settings until you feel happy with them. If you would like to test your view just select the Layers palette and click on the clouds layer. Select Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and then apply the following settings: Light type: Directional Intensity: 14 Gloss: 0 Material: 0 Exposure: 4 Ambiance:9 Texture Channel: Alpha 1 Height: 78 Now you can experiment with your settings and this is a great way to see how affective your stone background looks. Once you're happy just click the OK button.


Next we apply the offset filter, as explained in the last two examples and If need be, you can use the clone stamp tool if you are not happy to just tidy it up. That’s it all done.

How To Blend Fabric And Stone In Backgrounds

Fabric and Stone Background By blending the two effects together this can and will create some really cool background effects. First we need to create the fabric background and then the stone background.

First of all, we have to create a new completely black image. We are going to apply our filters on this black background. Select Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Set this noise to a value of 400 and check the Gaussian and Monochromatic boxes. The more noise you add to the image, the denser the fabric weft will be. Select Filter > Blur > Motion blur. Give this blur an Angle of 0 and a Distance of 50. Apply a second Motion blur and this time with an angle of 90 degrees. It is this double use of the Motion blur filter with two different angles that creates our weave pattern. We have now created the basis of our texture, but the fabric weft is not yet visible. Two new filters will put that right. Select Filter > Stylize > Emboss. Give this filter an angle of 135 degrees, a height of 3 and an amount of 500. The Emboss filter creates the depth that is needed to give the impression that the threads interlace. Select Image > Adjust > Levels. Move the black and white triangles along the levels line until you obtain a realistic-looking texture. This adjustment of the levels completes the effect by increasing the contrast of the weave pattern so that each thread is defined more clearly. In this case, we have used Input


levels of 85, 1 and 170. Now we have the fabric background made, our next step is to make the stone background, like we did in the last example although I’ll quickly go over it again here. Start by creating a new image and colour it black. The next step is to apply the filters. Select Filter > Render > Clouds. Then Select Filter > Render > Difference Clouds. You will obtain a softer surface if you only use the Clouds filter. By adding the Difference Clouds filter, you can include some uneven cracks and edges on the surface of the stone. Select Filter > Stylize > Emboss. Adjust the settings for this filter until you obtain the stone texture you are looking for. The next step is to colour our fabric background and this can be done in three very easy steps. Select Image > Adjust > Hue/Saturation. Check the Colourize box. Select the hue and saturation values of your choice. Now we need to blend the two backgrounds together and at this stage you can also apply an image or a photo you already have. This will give you an even greater background effect. Open the photo that you want to apply the texture on. Create a new layer on this photo. Create your texture (fabric or stone) on this new layer using the techniques described above. Set the mode for this layer to Overlay. Check this out for a really cool background Image.


Volume 3 Summary Like in the other two volumes I’ve only give you basic information on how to master the basics of Photoshop. In this volume I’ve shown you how to create backgrounds for your web pages with the aid of the offset tool and the clone stamp tool. There are no limits of too what you can create if you put your mind to it.


Volume 4 - “Working With Photoshop Text”

How To Add A Single Line of Text Adding a single line of text in Photoshop is very simple and to do this we need to use the “Text Tool”. First you need open your image, photo or blank page. Then Select the Text Tool (T) from the toolbar on the right hand side. Next you have to click once in your image, photo or blank page. You’ll then see a flashing text cursor and by default Photoshop creates a new layer. You’ll see this if you look at your palettes on the left hand side and now just start to type. When you have finished just click enter and you should have also noticed that the text you have just written also appears by default in the text name on the layer. If you want to change this just double click that layer. Remember everyone makes spelling mistakes or types something in they don’t like, so if you want to get rid of your typing just exit the Text Tool by pressing the Esc Key.

How To Word-Wrap Your Text Our last example was just for a single line of text which will never word-wrap. You’ll find when you're working within Photoshop that you’ll need your text to word-wrap automatically.


To use word-wrap you need to Select your Text Tool (T). Now open your folder and choose which image or photo you’re going to add text to. Next click down on your left button on your mouse and hold down while dragging the cursor to create a text area. See Image below. Now just type in the box and you’ll see by default the wording wraps round. If you don’t like how big or how small your word-wrap box is just click on the little boxes (handles) and drag them until you’re happy.

How To Increase Spaces Between Lines Of Text This is a very simple trick to use, and to be honest I see so many people getting frustrated by not being able to increase or decrease the spaces between their text. First you’ll need to highlight the text you're altering. Next you need to open the Character Palette by clicking on the Toggle Character Palette Button in the options bar at the top and you’ll find this on the far right at the top. In the Character palette you’ll be given a load of options but we are looking for “Character Space Between Lines” and you’ll see this in the image on the right. You can also type in your own character value and all you need to do is click on the white box which has the value in it. Backspace that value and then enter your own, but you must make sure you put “pt” at the end. Photoshop allows you to make shortcuts and I keep advising you to use them, because they will save you time and it will speed things up. The shortcut for this by clicking on the little arrows which point up and down next to the white box and if you have your text highlighted you’ll be able to see your text either increase or decrease.

How To Increase Spaces Between Letters You might have come across a word called “Tracking” in Photoshop and basically it describes the spacing between letters. Altering “Tracking” in Photoshop is really easy and can make your text look really cool and this is done in your Character Palette.


Another really cool effect in Photoshop text is altering the Kerning and again you can alter this in Character Palette. So I‘ll run through a few of these for you.

How To Adjust Your Tracking To adjust your tracking you need to highlight your text which you want to alter so next open the Character palette by clicking on the Toggle Character Palette

button in the options bar. To adjust your tracking from within your Character Palette you need to click on the second white box down (see image to the right). If you click on the arrow you’ll be given a drop down menu and again you can add your own value in or choose a standard value.

How To Alter Kerning To alter your kerning you need to follow the steps above but instead of selecting the second white box on the right, this time you need select the second white box on

the left (Metrics). All you need to do here is place your cursor between the two letters you want to space and then alter your kerning value till you’re happy. As you can see in the image blow I have altered the spacing between W and A.

How To Warp Text Warping text in Photoshop is really simple and in a few clicks you can warp your text anyway you want. You need to highlight your text and then click on the Create Warped Text button on the options bar. Once you’ve clicked on that you’ll then be given four different options... Style, Bend, Horizontal and Vertical. If you click on the drop down arrow in Style you’ll see Photoshop gives you more options of warping your text. See the image on the right.


Once you're happy with your Style you can then start to play around with the other three options. It’s just a case of fine turning your text now as you can see on the image to the right where we have used Wave but I’ve also played around with the other settings.

How To Wrap Text Around a Curved Photoshop allows you to wrap text around any object you like, but for now I’ll be showing you how to warp text around a coffee mug. Which in my eyes is the easiest way to start. Okay first you need to grab your image that you’re going to warp and like I said a nice coffee mug would be nice. Now open your image or photo you have and place it in a new layer. Next you’ll have to select the Text Tool and write your text over the coffee mug. By typing some new text you’ll have noticed this should have created a new layer. Now click on the Create warped text button on the options bar to bring up the Warp Text dialog box. Now click on the drop down arrow and select a warp style which will work best with your image or photo. I normally use “Arch Style” for this, but it’s best to be creative and use your imagination. Now in the other options I have Bent set around 22%, I leave Horizontal set at 0 and I set Vertical around 0%. Don’t forget you can always alter anything if you don’t like it. Now you can add a different colour to your text and you can also play around with the opacity and blend mode to get the style you're after. In the image to the right the settings were set at as Blend mode for my text to multiply and lowered the Opacity to 74%.

How To Make Small Text More Readable When you’re working with text in Photoshop and you're after very tiny text you’ll notice that sometimes it’s not readable. This is very easy to correct.


All you need to do is highlight your text Select the Text Tool (T) and then in the options bar at the top you‘ll see a drop-down menu, which allows you to set the anti-aliasing method you need.

How To Make Text Follow A Path This is really cool, allowing your text to follow any path you like. The tools we’ll being using for this are;- The Pen Tool (P) or the Shape Tool (U) to create your path. One quick reminder here is if you’re using the Shape Tool it won’t work if you’ve got the Fill pixels option selected. Next you need to Select the Text Tool (T) and move the cursor over the path until it changes to an I-beam with a curved baseline and you can see this in the image below.

Now all you need to do is click it once and type your text and by default your text follows your line. Check out the image below and you’ll see the text following a curved path. Photoshop allows you to alter the text path (orientation of your text) and all you need to here is click the Text orientation button. You’ll find this in the top-left part of the options bar. If you want to flip your text on the path you need to use the Direct Selection Tool (A). All you need to do here is position your cursor near the beginning of the text. Next you’ll notice that it changes into an I-beam with a small black arrow. All you have to do now is


move the text by clicking and dragging the cursor along the curve, then just flip the text by dragging the cursor downwards. Photoshop also allows you to create circle text as shown in the image below. This is very easy to do and to do this you use the Direct Selection Tool (A) and this alters the shape of the path. Next you need to make sure that the text layer is selected in the Layers palette on the left.

How To Add An OutLine To Text Adding an outline to a text layer can be very affective when used correctly as you can see in the image below. To do this you’ll need to use layer styles. Now you need to select your text layer from the Layers palette. Next you need to open the Layer Style dialog box and to do this just click on the Add a Layer style button at the bottom of the Layers palette. Then you need to select Stroke and you’ll find this in the drop down menu. You’ll have to modify the stroke options until you’re happy. Again you’ll have to play around with the setting, but as you can see from the image below the outcome is cool.

How To Make Text Glow


Making your text in Photoshop glow is again very straight forward and all you need to do is select your text layer from the Layers palette. Then open the Layer Style dialog box and to do this you need to click on the Add a layer style button. This is on the bottom-left side of the Layers palette. Next just select the Outer Glow and you’ll find this in the drop down menu. Again you’ll have to experiment with the settings in the dialog box to create the glow effect you’re looking for. But as you can see from the image below the outcome can be amazing.

How To Make Fire Text The next text I’ll be showing you is one of my favourites and I’ve used it loads of times on images and websites. First you’ll need to create a blank image and fill the background with black. A great shortcut here to flip your colours is by Pressing X on the keyboard. Once you have done this you need to select the Type Tool and then just type in what you like as you can see from the image below and then just press Enter.

Next you’ll have to make a copy of this layer and hide it because you'll need a copy for later. Next you need to right-click on your text layer and make it a "Rasterize Layer" Shortcut for this is (CTRL + click on the text layer). Next fill in that selection with white on a new layer and make sure to delete the editable text layer afterwards. A great tip and time saver here is make sure your text is exactly how you want it, because if you change your mind you’ll have to start over with another copy of your dynamic text layer. If you need to center your text in your image just use Ctrl+A > Ctrl+X > Ctrl+V. Next press Ctrl+E and this will merge your text layer into the black background layer which you made. You have to do this because we are going to use the Wind Filter For your next step Select Filter > Stylize > Wind and apply the setting "Wind" and "from the left". Now press Ctrl+F to apply the same filter over again for the second time.


Now we need to use another Filter > Stylize > Wind, but this time we are going “from the right” and then just press Ctrl+F to re-apply, just like before. See Image below. For our next step we need to repeat the process but this time we need to do it for the top and bottom. If you're trying to find a top to bottom option, well there isn’t one. All we do here is rotate your image around 90 degrees and apply the settings like we did above. Then just straighten your text and image so it reads correctly Now we need to apply the following Select > Apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. I would put a value of around 2 in, then Filter > Distort > Ripple with the default values. For the next step we need to convert your image to Grayscale and to do this we need to go to Image > Mode > Grayscale and then to Image > Mode > Indexed Colour. We now need to add some color to our image so select Image > Mode > Colour Table. I would suggest you choose a Black Body Table as this seems to work best when you’re doing a “Fire Effect Text”. You’ll see your text is now engulfed with flames, but it’s very hard to read. Now what we need to do next is unhide the layer which I told you to make a copy of at the beginning, which was your original text layer. Now drag it to the top in your Layers Palette and you’ll now see you can read your text. See image below.


How To Make 3D Pop Out Text Making 3D text within Photoshop again is very easy, but like the text effect above the outcome is simply awesome. First we need to create a new document then select a white background and you’ll need to switch to channels palette, just Select > Windows > Show channels. Next you’ll need to create a new channel and again give this a white foreground. Then just type your letters you are going to give the 3D effect to. Next you are going to duplicate that layer and to do this just right click and duplicate layer. Now we need to select a new channel and then you need to Gaussian Blur it. I would normally do it around 6.0 pixels so Select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur or Ctrl- Click (Mac: Command Click) Next you need to Invert Selection, so just Select > Inverse and hit delete. The reason we have done this is because we need to cut off any excess blur outside your original text area and you’ll also notice that your text is looking like something in 3D. Next you have to go to the Layers Pallet. Then you need to click on the Background layer and make a new layer. We now need to fill the new layer in with a dark colour and as you can see from the image below they have used Navy Blue. Again you can play around in here until you find something you like. Now for the really cool part for this 3D text tutorial. You need to go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. Here you need to switch texture channel to "Alpha Channel 2 (or #5). Light type "Spot Light". Again play around with the settings in here, if you’re happy with your settings then just adjust your light direction to taste and click OK. Just one more task and you’re done. You now need to Select > Load Selection and choose Alpha1 or Alpha4 and click okay. Then Invert Selection and hit delete. Deselect, Select>Deselect. A great tip here is if your looking for better results try using bigger letters or fatter ones.


How To Make Rusty Metal Text This tutorial explains how to create that old rusty look with text. The first thing you need to do is select your Paint Bucket tool and fill the background layer with black. Next you need to select your Type tool and type the text you want. If you’re happy, load your selection from the text layer and then create a new channel and fill the selection with white, by using the Paint Bucket tool. Once that’s finished you need to apply Photoshop’s Mezzotint filter, Select > Filter > Pixelate > Mezzotint, and then apply the following settings, Short Lines three times. You must keep the select active like the image above and then Select Dust & Scratches filter > Filter > Noise > Dust & Scratches. I like to keep the radius value around 2 or 3 for this type of job. See image to the right.

What we are trying to achieve here is to lose every single line inside and at the same time not to get a very curvy shape. Next you need keep the selection active and duplicate your current channel. Next apply the following setting Select > Filter > Brush Strokes. Your next step now is to invert the selected area and the shortcut key for this is Ctrl+I. I know it might sound complicated, but with a few goes you’ll be easily mastering this. Now you need to load the selection from your first channel and next create new layer and finally Select > Reflected Gradient Tool. The settings we now need are;- Set your foreground to white and middle grey and R: 153; G: 153; B: 153; HEX: 999999; as background colour. Now create a gradient, to get the best effect. I have found it is best to start in the middle of your text and then make your way to the top. Again experiment with this to find the best result for you. Next apply the following three settings; Apply Noise filter Select >Filter > Noise > Add Noise


Apply Grain filter Select >Filter > Texture > Grain Apply Noise filter Select >Filter > Noise > Add Noise Nearly there and now you need to load your selection from the second channel and create a new layer. I have found that the following settings work best. Apply the following;- Set R: 140; G: 102; B: 54; HEX: 8C6636; as foreground colour and then make sure you fill the selection with your Paint Bucket tool. Last step. Now just select the following setting, Inner Glow layer effect, Select > Layer > Effects > Inner Glow and make sure you apply it to the created layer. Now just apply the same colour as in the previous step, R: 140; G: 102; B: 54; HEX: 8C6636. See image to the right for end result. Don't you just love this type of design?

How To Make Reflection Text You’ll see reflection text on most website’s nowadays. To do this we need to Select your Text Tool and type in what you want reflecting. You’ll have noticed a new layer was created and now we need to duplicate that layer... Layer > Duplicate Layer and then we need to render it... Layer > Type > Render Layer or Layer > Rasterize > Type. Next you need to go to Edit > Transform > Scale and drag down the middle Next you need to go to Filter > Distort > Ripple, and within your options you need to set the Amount to 100 and Size to Medium. If you’re happy with this, then you need to reduce the layers opacity. You’ll have to play around with the settings, but I like it to be around 45% .


After that, you now need to go to Edit > Transform > Perspective, and here you’ll see some nodes so just drag one of the nodes in the lower corner to flair out the rippled text. See image below. When you do this it gives the effect of your text reflecting in its surface. I would always recommend you try to use a light background and make the text black with the Gaussian Blur, as this way you create a long shadow effect.

How To Make Chrome Text Making your text to look like a chrome effect is very straight forward. First you need to make a new image and color the black ground white. Now with the Type Tool type your text. I have found that black is the best colour and once you’re happy make sure you select the crisp anti-aliasing. See image below Next step is to Select > Layer > Layer style > Drop shadow. You can also double click on your type layer on the layers palette to the right. You’ll see a layer style flyout box and here you can just use the values for the drop shadow. Now you need to select the Inner Shadow and select your values and then you need to select the Inner Glow and select your values. Finally select Bevel and Emboss and select the values. You’ll have to play around with your values to find the right effect for your chrome effect design. Okay we now need to select your Gradient Overlay box, if you use the setting in the image below you should be fine. Now you need to select the Stroke area and select your values.


For the last bit, we need to group all our effects together and this is a very simple step. First you need to create a new layer and make sure your text layer is selected and Select > Layer > Rasterize > Type. Your next step now is to link the type layer and the new transparent layer and merge the two of them together. We now need to click on our type layer and add a new fresh drop shadow to our text and it won't mess any of our old settings up any more. You will end up with something like you see in the image below.

How To Make Dripping Slime Text Another cool text effect you can create in Photoshop is the dripping slime effect and it looks great coming from pipes, holes or even blood. Okay let's get started and first you need to create a new image. It’s up to you how big you make your image, but I like it to be around 450 x 450 pixels.

Now you need to hold down your Ctrl key and click on a layer you want this effect to be applied to. You’ll notice that the layers opacity has been selected. Now you need to apply the Quick Mask Mode and select all. The shortcut key is Ctrl+A. Now Select > Edit > Transform > Rotate 90o CW

Then Select > Filter > Stylize > Wind. Press OK. If you want the rust dripping farther down, press Ctrl+F to repeat the Wind filter.


Now Select > Edit > Transform > Rotate 90o CCW

You now need to exit the Quick Mask Modeand the shortcut key for this is Esc. Next you need to click on the layer which is right under your text, which will be the object you're applying the drips to. Now you need to create a new layer and select a rust colour for your foreground colour. Then just fill in the selection. See image to the right for the final outcome.

How To Make Glass Text Effect

Personally this effect is my favourite text effect, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions. This tutorial is advanced but I’m sure you'll cope with ease in no time at all. This effect of reflectively refractive glass filter text will give you an illusion of having a 3D glass reflection text. OK, let's get started and first you need to create an image. I would suggest using something like 600 x 600 pixels so now make sure you save this image. The shortcut key for this is Ctrl+S. I always save this as a .psd. Next Select > Type Tool and fill nearly all of your Image in and I would also suggest you use a typeface with thick smooth edges. See image below. Now you need to hold down your Ctrl key and click on the Type layer, which you’ll find in the windows palette and select its transparency.


Next you need to go to your channels window and Select > Save Selection As Channel Button and this will create a channel selection. Now just click on the new channel you have just created, but you need to have the selection still in tact and then you need to use Gaussian Blur. We are trying to create smooth edges here so if you’re not happy, then just undo your last move and try again. You’ll find the best settings for this are;- Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... 9 pixels Then blur 6 pixels. Then blur 6 pixels. Then again, 3 pixels. Then again, 3 pixels. Then finally, only 1 pixel. A good tip here is to make sure your height map looks good, because this really is the key to your final outcome. Now if you're happy with your blurration fit, press Ctrl+A. We need to select the entire channel and your next is to copy it to the clipboard. The shortcut key for this is Ctrl+C. Okay that’s that bit out of the way. Now we need to create a new image Ctrl+N and make it the same size as before and then copy and paste this to your blurred channel from your last step. Save this image, but give it a different name to before, and again save it as a .psd. Your next step here is to find an image you like, because you are going to use this for the background effect. Next open this image up in Photoshop and select all Ctrl+A and copy it to your clipboard Ctrl+C. The next step is to open up your original image from the first step and copy this onto a new layer. This image will be the one which the glass refracts. Now select that layer and select all and the Select > Filter > Distort > Glass. Once opened you can see you are given some settings. See image to the right. Try the following settings; Distortion – 20 Smoothness – 8 Texture – Load Texture Scaling - 100%


There is also an invert options and this and will create a great effect. I suggest you do play around with the settings and find what works best for you. Once you're happy just press OK. Next we need to fit the glass refraction inside your original form, to do this you need to select your Alt key and slowly move your mouse so that it’s between the two layers you made earlier. What you’re looking for here is a little icon with two intersecting circles. It replaces your cursor and then just click. You’ll notice that one of the layers; it should be the transparency layer, will make a mask for your other layer. If you would like to disable this, you need to click between the two layers again, but you need to hold down your Alt key. Only a few more steps and we're done, so next you need to hold down your Ctrl key and click the layer which is your transparency layer and create a new layer above it. You now need to fill that layer in with a dark colour, so I would suggest using black or a very dark grey. We are looking to fill the foreground color here. If you’re happy, then rename this layer and we now need to set the blending mode for that layer to Overlay.b Make sure your new layer is selected and then Select > Filter > Render > Lighting Effects. Next is to set your texture channels and we need the bump map which we created earlier. I would go for Alpha1, and play around to find what works best for you. This next and final step is to set your Channel height to around 100 'Mountainous'. See image below for final outcome.


How To Make Chiselled Text Another great text effect to try is the chiselled text effect. Again it's a few simple steps but the out come can be so effective. You first need to select a new image and make the background color a texture or medium colour. See image below. Now you need to use your Type Mask Tool and type a letter or letters that you are looking for. Next Select > Edit > Copy and copy that layer and now edit and paste. You are looking for a new layer with the letter or letters cut out of the texture. Next Select > Layer > Effects > Inner Shadow. I have found that using the default setting normally works fine, but again play around with the settings in there. Once you’re happy click OK. For the next step we need to distinguish your letter or letters from the background and to do this we need to Select > Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast. Again I have found the best settings here are Brightness 50 and Contrast 50. I have found using the Brightness and Contrast tool enables us to preview our cutout effect in real-time which is really cool. Once you’re happy just click OK. See image below for final outcome.


Volume 4 Summary In this chapter, I’ve tried to cover a basic understanding of how text works. We have learned text paths, curved text, coloured text, word wrapping text, altering your text styles and I’ve also shown you how to produce more effective text which you can use for banners, logos and headers for your photos or images.

Volume 5 - “Adjusting Images In Photoshop”

How To Make Your Photos Whiter You’ll see in the picture below that I’ve been working on my winter photos, but as you’ll notice the picture is very dim and the house and the snow are very hard to make out. So don’t go throwing these away any more because with a few clicks in Photoshop you can make this that perfect picture that you had in mind. So first things first. You need to open your picture up and then click on the Create new fill or adjustment layer button. This is found at the bottom of your layers palette and then choose levels from the menu. Once you see the levels dialog box, you’ll see a slider bar, so just click and drag the levels either to the right or to the left. You’ll notice that your picture will either go darker or become lighter and give you a much more crisp finish, which is what we are after. Once you're happy with the outcome just click on the OK button and this will close the levels dialog


box. As you can see from the two images below, the one on the left is the original image which is dim and hard to make out the house and snow. But the one on the right which I’ve adjusted is much more crisp and it gives you that “Wish You Were Here” feeling.

Levels Command vs Adjustment Layer I hear so many people saying what's the difference between the levels command and the adjustment layer. Well in simple terms not much really as you can

achieve exactly the same thing. So let me explain a bit more in detail. If you are using the Levels adjustment (Image > Adjustments > Levels), this command only applies the adjustment directly onto your image layer, which is all very well, but further down the line if you want to alter or remove the adjustment, then this is where you're going to run into trouble. If you look at the image on the left you’ll see in the layers palette that I have added a special layer. This way I’m keeping the original picture untouched and this way if you decide you don’t like what you have adjusted in your picture you can just hide that adjustment layer. To do that you just need to click on the eye icon. I would recommend using this method all the time because it keeps your original picture intact. You must also remember that “The adjustment layer affects all the layers beneath it”. Once you start using this method you’ll also notice that it can become a little tricky if


you need to add a new image to a specific layer. When I do this I always add a new layer mask to my adjustment layer.

How To Use Levels Understanding levels is quite straight forward as once in the levels dialog box you’ll notice that it produces a histogram. This is just a graph that shows you the number of pixels which are present in each intensity level. See image to the right.

As you can see in the image you are given three little black arrows which point upwards. If you alter them, by default Photoshop remaps the tone values in your picture. Like I did in the winter picture on the second page. Photoshop is very clear in this way because it identifies the original gray pixels and remaps them to a whiter or darker end of the spectrum and in my case with the winter picture, it was the lighter end. Something to remember when you are using the adjustment layer is that the shape of the histogram itself won’t change; but if and when you apply the levels command, the histogram is altered to reflect the remapped tonal values and this will then change your picture permanently. But remember if you're not happy you always have the undo button.

How To Make Your Blacks Darker You should now be familiar with your histogram and how your sliders work, but if not then just play around with a few pictures and you’ll soon have the hang of it. So if you wanted to give your picture a more darker look simply drag your slider

bar towards the right as this way you will be giving your picture more contrast and also you’ll be giving it a cleaner look.

How to Add Tone Adjustments and Contrast Once you get more familiar with using levels you’ll find out this is just a quick fix to brighten up your dull and dim pictures. To fine tune your picture correctly you need to give it more mid tones.


The example above shows you two pictures. The one on the left is the original picture and the one on the right has had the levels adjusted. As you can see the picture on the right is becoming a little more clearer, but what you are looking for here is to alter the mid tones and in the level adjuster, this is very limited. If you have a picture like this you’ll notice that by altering your level adjuster you can either make it brighter or darker. What you need to do next is have more control on the mid tones and to do this we can adjust the curves. There are two ways you can do this;- either a Curves adjustment layer or the Curves command. So let's start, so click on your Create new fill or adjustment layer button which you’ll find at the bottom of your layers palette and next select Curves. See image below.

Once you have clicked on Curves, a new dialog box will appear. See image to the right. The first thing you’ll notice is the line which goes from top right to bottom left. To alter your mid tones on your picture we need to alter this line. To adjust the mid tones you need to alter the shape of the line. To do this you need to click on the line and add points and the maximum you can add is seven. Then you just need to drag the points to change your shape. If you want to increase your contrast make your shape into a large S-shape, like I have done in the image to the right. To remove your points you just need to drag them outside your box. Once you happy just click OK.


Below you’ll see two images, the one to the left has just had the adjustment levels altered, but the one to right you’ll notice has had the Curves adjusted. And as you can see in the outcome of the picture on the right is much brighter and less washed out.

Understanding Curves Understanding curves is very simple. You have a horizontal axis and a vertical axis. The horizontal axis represents the input levels and this is the original colour of your picture. The vertical axis is your output levels. You’ll see when you first

open your curves dialog box that you have a straight line, so to alter your mid tones in your picture you have to alter that line. The more you make it into an S-shape the more darker it becomes.

How To Make Your Colours More Vivid In Your Photos


To make your colours vivid we need to use a simple technique in Photoshop called Hue/Saturation. To do this you need to open your picture and click on the Create new fill or adjustment layer button which can be found at the bottom of the layers palette. Next you need to select Hue/ Saturation and this will bring up the Hue/Saturation dialog box. As you can see from the image on the right. If you want to increase your Hue/Saturation/Lightness, then just alter your slider by dragging them across to the right or left. You’ll also notice you can edit your colour range so to do that just click on the drop down box and you’ll see all the different options available. Once you're happy just click OK. In the two pictures below you’ll notice that the one on the right has had its Saturation altered. As you can also see the colours have become more vivid

How To Remove Colour Tints From Your Images Every photograph is taken in a different lighting condition. So you’ll notice that some pictures have a slight colour cast in them. Removing this is very simple within Photoshop.


First you need to click on the Create new fill or adjustment layer button which you’ll find at the bottom of your layers palette and then choose levels like you did before. Once you are in the dialog box you need to select the channel drop down box and then select Red. See image below Now just adjust the sliders below your history and you might find that the first time you alter your sliders your colour tints will have gone. But if they do not then try the process again, but this time change your channel to a different colour. You will find that with some photos the unnatural colouring is more obvious, but if you try the method above you’ll notice that the outcome of your photo isn’t crisp enough. If this is the case then you need to use the curves adjustment layer.

How To Darken Areas In Your Images A neat little trick most photographers use in Photoshop is to draw focus on the image within the picture and to do this they make the background more darker, as this way the image stands out more. First you need to open your image then select and set the gray layer to Overlay mode. Next create a new layer on top of your image layer. Next we need to fill the new layer in and to do this you need to Select Edit > Fill. You’ll then see a dialog box, so select around 50% Gray from your first drop down menu and then you need to set your Opacity to 100%. Next set the blend mode of this layer to Overlay and this is done by selecting it from the drop down menu which is at the top of your layers palette. Now just select your Burn Tool (O), and choose your brush. I normally choose the soft-edged brush, then just use it to paint over the areas you want to darken. You must remember that you only need to paint over the filled gray layer and not the image layer. Sometimes you will need to alter the size of your brush, but in most cases like the image below I would use a brush around 90px.


Blending Modes Just what exactly does the Burn Tool do? Well the Burn Tool will gradually darken the area on which you paint. If you look in your layers palette which is normally on the right hand side, you should have your blend mode for the layer

which you're altering to around 50%. The reason for this is so you won’t effect the image underneath, as you can see in the image above. I have found when I’m using this technique that some areas like the very bright ones are harder to darken. The way I get round this is to change the Blend mode to a more Linear light or a Vivid light.

Using the Brush Tool Once you become familiar with Photoshop you’ll find out other tools can be used to perform other tasks. You can use the Brush Tool in the same way you use the Burn Tool to darken your image, but using the Burn Tool will gradually darken

your image.

Using the Burn Tool on the Image Layer Remember when you are using the Burn Tool make sure you check out the options menu you get from the drop down. In here you’ll find a menu with more options for you to play around with your darker shadows.

How To Convert Your Images To Black And White Like I keep saying when you're using Photoshop, it gives you many different ways to achieve your end product. In this example I’m going to show you a very quick and easy way to convert your image from colour to black and white.


First you need to open up your image and then we need to desaturate it. To do this we need to Select the following > Image > Adjustments > Desaturate, and click. Next we need greyscale the image and to do this we need to Select >Image > Mode > Grayscale, and click.

This is the quickest way to change colour to black and white but you might find out your image might look a little bland. So my next step would be to use Lab colour and the reason I use this is to sharpen my image up. You can find Lab Colour by Selecting the following > Image > Mode > Lab Colour. See image below.

Once you have applied this you'll notice the change in your image straight away. The the next step here would be to open up you channels palette and then click on the lightness bar. The next step is to click on the black and white convert, but at this point you won’t be able to save it, because you’re still in Lab mode. Now go back to Image > Mode then click on Grayscale. You can now save you image. If you look at the two images below you see the one on the right is the Lab Colour and the one on the left is grayscale.


As a beginner you’ll notice when you start experimenting around with Photoshop that you will start altering images which are more complicated, with different effects. Something you might want to play around with is the channel mixer and I personally think this is a really cool tool. First you need to Select your Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer, see image below.

Once you have done this you’ll notice a flyout dialog box with 3 channels in it. The channel colours are red, green and blue. If you want to play around with a black and white photo you’ll need to click in the monochrome box, as this way by default Photoshop automatically sets your red channel to 100 and green and blue to zero.

Once you're in the channel mixer make sure you play around with all the settings and a quick note here is that mixing too much will give you more noise and the basic guide is to try and keep the overall % to around 100%.

The three diagrams below show their 100% respective colour. The one on the left is Red, the middle one is Green and the one on the right is Blue. You’ll also notice that different images which your going to play around with will give you different results all the time, because of the colour which is already in the image.


How To Create A Sepia Tone Effect Creating a Sepia tine effect in Photoshop is very straight forward and very simple as basically a Sepia tone is just a collection of photo filters.

Okay the first step here is to open your image, as you can see we have a bull mastiff in this image. Next you need to select > Image> Adjustments> Desaturate.

The reason why we are doing this is because we will have a greyscale version and this means we don’t have to convert later. Your next step here is to apply the Sepia filter and to do this you need to Select > Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Photo Filter. Once you have done this you’ll see a new dialog box, where you need to enter the following settings: Colour: None Mode: Normal Opacity: 100% - Then if you're happy just click OK. Your next step will be to brighten up the Photo filter dialog box and again you need to enter the following settings: Filter: Sepia Density: 50% (or experiment) Preserve Luminosity: Selected. - Then if you're happy just click OK. Next we need to convert to grayscale and apply a duotone. This is a simple step and the reason we are doing this is so you will have more control over your results.

First open your original image and select > Image > Mode > Grayscale. You’ll now see a dialog box appear which will say “Discard colour information?” The answer we are looking for here is “YES”, then click OK.


Your next step is to create your Sepia effect and to do that we need to do the following. Select > Image> Mode> Duotone. You’ll now see your duotone dialog box and make sure you Type: Duotone is selected…

Only a few more steps and we are there. Next you need to pick yourself two different inks and the most common one used is EB8B23. So just add that code into your blank box, you’ll also have to name your ink, so lets name this SepiaInk1. Now for your second Ink you need to enter 000000 and name this SepiaInk2. Then just click OK. Now for the final step, go back to RGB mode and Select Image> Mode> RGB Colour. Next you need to play around with the saturation levels, so select > Image> Adjustments> Hue/Saturation. Now you need to move the slider to around 40%, but everyone has their own idea of what a Sepia image should look like. Basically we are trying to get a Rich Reddish Brown as you can see in the final image to the right.

How To Combine Two Images Together I must admit blending two images together in Photoshop is my favourite. In this tutorial you’ll be using the Apply image command and the reason we are using the Apply image command is because it allows us to blend or apply a layer and channel from one image with another image, plus you can also channel off another image. Personally I think this way gives you a better end result. Okay the first thing you need to do before you get started is to find the two images you're going to use. See images below. Image 1


Image 2

Now you need to Select your primary image. Your other image is your source image.

Next you need to duplicate your background layer on your target image. You’ll see your background layer in your layer palette on the right hand side. To duplicate your image just press Ctrl+J (Win) / Command+J (Mac).


If you're happy with this the next step is to go to the top of your screen and select Apply Image and you’ll see a dialog box appear. You’ll notice a selection of different options. You’ll notice in the middle an option which says Target: This gives you the information of which two images you’ll be blending together, plus you’ll also notice that the target image is in RGB mode.

The next thing you need to look at is the Source Image, which you’ll see at the very top. This just shows you the currently correct selected source image. In this tutorial we will only be dealing with two images, but if you had more images to blend then you could select more from the source box.

Our main goal here is trying to blend two images together, so you need to have the following settings in.


Source: Your Source Image Layer: This will be set to Background Channel: RGB Target: Is your target image Blending: Overlay Opacity: This is how much you want both images to blend together. I would normally have this set to 100% but please play around with this setting.

You’ll see there are two more option tick boxes at the bottom "Preserve Transparency" and "Mask", but for this example we don’t need them. If you have some free time just apply a tick in each box and see what the outcome is like in your final image. Remember you can also undo each process. See image below for final outcome


How To Sharpen Your Images Another one of Photoshop’s amazing tools is Sharpening your images. Once you have mastered or have the understanding of this you can alter any image you like.

So for this example I’ll be walking you through how to sharpen up your images. The image below is fine, but you get that feeling you can make it a lot more crisp and a lot more sharper.

So your first step is to open your image and then go to your layer palette on the right hand side and you'll be looking for your channels palette. Now you need to find out which layer will give you the greatest contrast, so to do this you need to open Red, Green and Blue. Once you have made up your mind just hide the other channels. You’ll notice that each image will be different to other images, so that’s why you need to open them in all the three colours. The Green channel will work best for this example.

Now you need to copy that channel and to do this just Select > Ctrl-A (Command-A on a Mac) and Ctrl-C (Command-C).

Next you need to return to the RGB layer and this is because it’s in full colour. Now just paste in, Ctrl-V (Command-V). The reason you do this is because we need two layers, your original layer and your greyscale layer.

What we are looking for next is to try and smooth your image out, as well as looking to increase the contrast in your image.

So first as always duplicate your layer and we need to duplicate the grayscale layer and as I keep mentioning as this is for our backup layer. Now Select >Filter > Blur > Surface Blur. You’ll get a fly out dialog box with the following options in, Radius and Threshold. What


we now need to do is to make the surface smoother and to do this we just need to alter the sliders. See image below.

Once you're happy with this, make sure you duplicate this layer again, and then Select Image > Adjustments > Levels, the shortcut Ctrl-L (Command-L on a Mac). Now in the levels dialog box you’ll see a slider. We now need to move them closer to the middle as this will increase the contrast. I have also found out that by dragging the gray slider along, you’ll increase the contrast of the edges on your image.

Again make sure you create a back up layer and I can not stress to you enough how important it is to keep duplicating and backing up your work is.

Now you need to Select Filter > Stylized > Find Edges. Photoshop by default will automatically run and define your edges.

You might get this right the first time, but I usually find I have to reapply the surface blur, find edges filter and the level command. It’s a trial and error process although you know when you have found that sharpness you're after. Once you're happy just click OK.

http://sitepointstatic.com/graphics/surface-blur.png


Next you need to Select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. What we need to do in here is make the blurred effects into a more solid colour and again you’ll have to play around in here. Once you're happy just click OK

Now you need to add the levels command to the newly created layer. You’ll see in the dialog box some sliders, which you need to bring inwards. What you are looking for is to have the outlines very strong and the lighter grays to have nearly turned white. See image below.

Nearly there now and next you need to Select that layer and invert that image. The shortcut keys for this are press Ctrl-I (Command-I on a Mac) and you will have noticed that your image looks like something has gone wrong with it. See image below.

Next we need to create a selection and to do this we need to open your channel palette which should be on the right hand side. Now we need to select the RGB layer we created earlier and the reason we are doing this is because we need to create a selection base and once you have done this you’ll see the dotted lines.

http://sitepointstatic.com/graphics/sharpen-levels1.png

http://sitepointstatic.com/graphics/sharpen-invert.png


Okay, one more step and we are finished, so you need to go back to your layers palette and hide your other layers, to do this you just need to press on the little eye icon. Open that layer and you’ll see the dotted lines. Now with this selection still being active you need to Select > Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. You’ll get another dialog box with the following options in;- Amount, Radius and Threshold. You’ll need to play around with the settings, but we are looking for the sharpest image possible.

Applying the Unsharp Mask filter

Once you're happy just click OK . See images below for before and after. Before is the one on the left and after is the one on the right, but I shouldn’t have to tell you this as you can see the difference in the images.


How To Brighten Up Your Images A really cool trick in Photoshop is brightening up your images and this works great for dark shadows and those horrible bright highlights you sometimes get. If you look at the two images below you can see the original one to the left and the new image which has been altered in Shadow/Highlight Okay, let's get started, so first open your image and Select Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight. You’ll see another dialog box appear (Shadow/Highlight). You are now given a load of new options with slider bars, so your best option here is play around with the sliders to find which best suits your image, but make sure you have the tick in the “Show More Options” box at the bottom. Once you're happy with your new brightened image just click OK . If you liked, you could also play around with the levels and curves adjustments layers as this way it gives you the best of both options. See image below for final outcome.

Volume 5 Summary In this Volume, I’ve tried to show you the basic ways of adjusting your poor and faulty images. I’ve also given you a quick overview on how curves and levels work. The main thing you should now be understanding in Photoshop is anything can be repaired or altered, so all those discarded images which you’ve been deleting or throwing away can now be worked on.


Volume 6 - “Manipulating Your Photoshop Images” How To Make Your Foreground of a Photo Stand Out This is a really cool and neat trick in Photoshop and well worth the time and effort. First you need to open up your image and then select your preferred selection tool and create a selection around your image, as you can see in the image below. Next you need to save your selection and to do this you need to Select > Save Selection. You’ll then see a new dialog box so make sure you enter a name and then click OK. Photoshop automatically creates a new alpha channel for your new selection.


Next you need to open your channels palette and then select your new alpha channel. We now need to invert this channel and to do this you need to Select Ctrl-I (Command-I on a Mac). The reason we are doing this is because it will create a black silhouette of your selected object against your white background. Next you need to open your toolbox and set your foreground colour to black and after you have done this you need to select the Gradient Tool (G). You now need to use the foreground to transparent gradient option and once you have selected this, click on hold onto your mouse and you must make sure you hold your image near the bottom of the foreground object. Next you need to drag your mouse upwards, but you must also press the shift key at the same time. Once you're happy just release your mouse and this will create the gradient. Now you need to select your photo from your layers palette. Select Filter > Blur > Lens Blur. You’ll now notice a new dialog box so you now need to select the alpha channel that Photoshop has just created for you. In here you’ll have to alter some settings, so you need to alter the Blur Focal Distance to 0 and you must also alter the (increase) on the radius. You will need to play around with this setting because each photo will be different. You’ll also see some more settings so please feel free to play around with these. Once you’re happy you just need to click OK. See image below for the final outcome.


How To Make A Polariod Photo Effect Here’s another great way of making any dull photo into an eye-popping one. First you need to open your photo which you are going to use and then you need to select the layer which contains your photo. Next you need to bring up the layer style dialog box and to do this you need to click on the add layer style button. This can be found at the bottom of your layers palette. Now your next step here is to select the stroke from the menu and then increase the size of the stroke to 10pixels. This of course all depends on how thick you want your borders. Next select inside from the position drop down menu and here you need to set your colour to white. Your next step is to select the Drop Shadow layer style and you’ll find this on the right hand side of your layers style dialog box. I would recommend you keep your settings just for now, then just click the OK button and close the dialog box. See image below. The next step you have to take is to free-transform the photo layer and to do this you have to use Ctrl-T (Command-T on a Mac). Once you have done this you’ll notice a a bounding box and this is for rotating your image, resizing it and moving it. All you have to do to resize it is just click on the small clear handles and move them. Once you are happy with what you have done just double click inside the bounding box and this will apply your settings, so all you need now is a drop shadow. To do this we need to select your photo from the layer, found in the layers palette. Next you need to bring up your layers style box and all you do this by clicking on the Add a layer style button. This is at the bottom of your palette and then select drop shadow from the menu which will appear. Then just alter the drop shadow to how you like it and one very important rule when you're doing this is to remember the value size should be several pixels greater than the value for distance. If you don’t do this the upper edges are not visible against a white background.


The most common settings for polaroid images are; Angle: 120¢ Distance: 2px Spread: 0% Size: 5px See image below for final outcome.

How To Isolate Any Object From A Photo This for me is why Photoshop is the best editing software on the market. Okay let's start by isolating or cutting out objects which just blows my head off because you can do absolutely anything you like with it. But you need to know when you use the two different techniques. If you're going to use clipping then you need to use this method on objects which have hard edges. If you want to use the extract filter you need to make sure your objects are on detailed backgrounds, plus you also need to know that a layer mask will help you if there is little contrast between the object and it’s background. Okay let's start with the Clipping method, this method like I said before is very effective for hard edges, so you need to select the Pen Tool (P), and choose the Paths button in the options bar. Next comes the long and hard bit as you need to create a path that tightly follows the outline of your object and a good idea here is to use the zoom on your image.


You can also use the Direct Selection Tool as this will help you adjust the handlebars for the path which you are creating. See image below. Once you have finished this you then need to select your image layer from your layer palette and then you need to Select Layer > Vector Mask > Current Path. What we are doing here is creating a halo around the object we want to cut out. Next use the Direct Selection Tool (A), the reason you need to use this is because you will need to later get your path from the vector mask, plus you also now need to get rid of the halo. As you can see from the image below you now have a nearly perfect cut-out of your flower.

Extract Filter Method. Like I said earlier this works best for more finer detailed objects and it's great for hair, trees, feathers etc.


When you are using this method the first thing you need to do before you start to make any alterations is to duplicate your first layer for the layer palette. To do this you need to use the following: Ctrl-J (Command-J on a Mac). Your next step once you have duplicated your first layer is to select the extract and to do this you need to Select Filter > Extract. You’ll now see a dialog box and in that dialog box you need to Select the Edge Highlighter Tool (B) and this is on the left-hand side of your dialog box. Next you need to draw an outline around the edges of your object which you are cutting out. The trick here is to make sure the outline is thick enough to over lap your object and the background. The reason you need to do this is because the extract filter looks for contrast between the object and your background, so if need be try using a larger brush, as this way you can catch all the finer detail. See example below.

Once you have made your outline your next step is to use the Fill Tool (G) and you’ll find this in your dialog box. You need to use this in case there are any areas you want to cut out. If you are happy you just need to click OK and apply the filter. Your next step is to set a state for your History Brush Tool. You need to open the History palette and you’ll see all you actions you have made. Next click on the duplicate layer actions which is on the left hand side. We are now going to use the paint with History Brush Tool (Y). To do this you just need to toggle the column on the left hand side of your previously duplicated actions. Okay we’ve just set up a “state” for the History Brush and this is why Photoshop is so clever as it’s going to use this version of your image to paint.


You will find that you might have erased too much with the Extract Filter, but you can just brush them back in by using the History Brush. A great tip here is to use a smaller brush when you are doing this. See image below for the final outcome.

Layer Mask Method If you don’t like the two above methods and you have plenty of time on your hands you can use the Layer Mask Method. Yes it’s very time consuming but this method will work on any image, so you can get some great effects if your image

has little contrast between the object and the background.


As you can see in the image above it would make sense in using this method to extract this object (Toddler). Your first step here is to select the image from your layers palette and then you need to click on the Add layer mask button which you’ll find at the bottom of your layers palette. Next set your foreground colour to black and you’ll also have to select a large brush as this way we can hide most of the background by painting on your layer mask. When you have done that, you’ll need to use a smaller brush to fill in the edges around your object and a great tip here is to zoom in so you can get really close to the object you are cutting out. When you are using the Pencil Tool you can modify one pixel at a time (This is why it’s time consuming). Once you have finished and you are happy just clean up your image by using white paint back on the areas you deleted accidentally. See below for final outcome.

Show to Save an Object on a Transparent Background for a Flash Movie. The way we go about doing this is very simple and very straight forward. The first thing you need to do is hide any background layers as this way your object is just

in a visible layer. Next Select File > Save For Web and now you must save your image


as a transparent PNG-24 image. The reason why we are doing this is because images which are saved in PNG 24 format retain their transparency when imported into Flash movies.

How To Create a Reflection for an Image This method is a really cool way of adding an awesome header to your blog and in fact more and more people have started to do this over the last few years. The first thing you need to do is to make sure the text you want to create an image with is on it’s own layer. Next you need to duplicate that layer and to do this you need to select Ctrl-J (Command-J on a Mac). If you would like to use a text layer like I’m showing you in this example make sure you turn it into a vector shape layer and to do this you need to right click on the layer palette and select Convert to Shape. Next you need to transform that duplicated object you have just created by using Ctrl-T (Command-T). You should then see a bounding box, so click and hold your mouse bottom down and this should be done on the middle control point at the top of your bounding out box. Your next step here is to hold down your Shift Key and then drag and the mouse downwards and what you need to do here is flip your object upside down. Once you are happy just click the OK button to apply the transformation. After you have done that you need to lower the opacity in the Layers Palette. You now need to lower the flipped layer to an opacity of around 75%, then click on the add layer mask button and this will add the flipped layer mask to your layers palette. Next you need to add an gradient to your layer mask so that it fades out the bottom part of your text image.


If you are working with text shapes you will notice that letters which have been reflected overlap each other and in order to alter these you’ll need to alter the paths for the reflections of these letters manually. To do this you need to Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), next you’ll need to draw a border around that letter and then select all the points in it’s path. Then, press Ctrl-T (Command-T on a Mac) to transform those points. Once you are happy just click OK. Drag the top-center control handle down slightly to compress the shape until the top of the shape no longer overlaps the object. Double-click inside the bounding box to apply the transformation. Repeat this process for the other curved letters. See below for the final outcome. First you would need to duplicate the background layer, to do this you would just have to select Ctrl-J (Command-J on a Mac). Next you would need to select both layers


(duplicated layer and reflection layer) from your palette. Next right click on just one of the selected layers and choose Merge Layers. You now need to select the merged layer and open Filter > Brush Strokes > Sprayed Strokes. To get a rippling water effect you would need to use the following settings;- Stroke Direction: Horizontal Spray Radius: 8 Stroke Length: 11 Once you are happy just click OK and you are done.

How To Create a Thumbnail Image Creating a thumbnail image can be done in just a few moves so to do this you need to Select Image > Image Size. Next you’ll see a dialog box so just check the Constrain Proportions checkbox and then enter your width and height value for your thumbnail. Photoshop then automatically calculates your values and once your are happy just click OK. There is also another way to create a thumbnail image and that’s to use the Crop Tool. First you need to Select your Image then Select Crop Tool (C). Enter your height and width values but you need to make sure your resolution is set to 72 Pixels/Inch. Save your image as a thumbnail by Selecting File > Save For Web. If you are going to save a lot of images as thumbnails use the Batch Processing Tools.


How To Create a Image on a Box You will have seen this method loads of times on websites where they are advertising a product on a box. It looks really awesome if you ask me and it’s so simple to do. The first thing you need to do is create an image in Photoshop. Next you’ll need guides on your image and to do this you’ll need to use the ruler. We now need to create guides for the front and back. Use the Rectangle Tool (U) to create the front and back box with the above values. Now use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to move the point of the back and front sides like this: 0,0>0,10px, 0,300>0,290px for the back side and 200,0>200,20px, 200,300>200,380px. Your next step is to import your footage and I normally make the front side a little wider but these values can be experimented with. As you can see this footage is 50×300px back and 200×300px front. A good tip here is just forget the writing for the first time and just concentrate on the image. Now for the magical part. Select the first rectangle you created and Select Ctrl Key (or Command key) while you click the layer representing the rectangle. Next you need to Edit > Paste Into (or Shift + Control/Command + V) to paste into the rectangle. Then you need to Transform (Ctrl/Command + T) to transform the front and back side footage to move it's new position.


This bit's a little tricky but with a few goes you’ll soon get the use of it. Next you need to move the right part to the right guideline and once you have done this just click your mouse on the top right hand corner, but this is only for the front side. Your next step is to hold your mouse down and press Shift+Ctrl+Alt and move the right corner down slightly. Once you have done this you need to create some inner shadows to give it that awesome effect. To do this you need to Select Drop Shadow to that layer and add the following values: 10% opacity, 10px distance, and 20px size. I also added an outside stroke with the width of 1px, white, to the same layer. See below for final outcome.


How To Place an Image on a Curved Suface Another cool and very neat trick in Photoshop is placing any image onto a curved surface such as a bottle. To do this we need to use what we call guide layers, although we’ll hide this when the image has been completed. First you need to Select Edit > Transform > Warp. What we are doing here is adding a three column three row grid. To adjust these all you have to do is select the handlebars for each point and this way we can make the curve on our image. Once you have sorted out your corners you are probably going to have to sort out the inner parts as well. Once you are happy with the warping of your image just click the OK button and the transformation will happen. You can add some more extra steps which will give a more crisp finish. First you need to add a new layer and fill it with 50% gray using Edit >Fill. Next you need to hold down the Alt Key and then drag the vector mask from the shape layer to your new gray layer. Then set the blend mode of the gray layer to Hard Light. Once you are happy then use the Burn and Dodge Tool with the aid of a soft brush to paint shadows and highlights on the gray layer. In the last step you just need to lower the opacity of the gray layer to around 50% and the logo layer to around 80% as this way you're giving your image a more natural effect.


How To Remove Blemishes from a Photo Removing unwanted blemishes is very simple and can be done a just few quick steps. In this example it’s best to use the Spot Healing Brush Tool. As you can see on this women’s face she has an unwanted spot. First you need to open your image and Select the Spot Healing Brush Tool (J) from your toolbox. Once you have selected this the next step is to select your brush size and you need to go with something a little bigger than the spot. Now your next step is to centre the cursor on that spot and just click once. Photoshop automatically makes that spot disappear for good. If you wanted to remove a larger spot I would recommend using the Healing Brush Tool. Check out the before and after images below.


Volume 6 Summary In this Volume, I’ve tried to show you the basic ways of manipulating images. Yes there are many other different ways, you’ll come across them once you become more advanced with Photoshop. The ways I’ve shown above are the most used and the most common methods for manipulating images. Remember manipulating images is all about having fun, so don’t get frustrated if you don’t get it right the first time it’s the end result which counts.


Volume 7 - “Creating Buttons” How To Create a Simple Rounded Button In Photoshop you can create just about any button you like. I’m going to take you through the most used ones. To start with we’ll be creating the very simple rounded buttons. The best way to create rounded buttons is by using shapes as this way you can resize or re-scale the button whenever you like. The first you need to do is Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool, then you need to add the following dimensions in (4 or 5 pixels) or there abouts, it just depends on how big you want your rounded button to look. These dimensions are for the radius of the rounded corners and next you need to draw your rectangle button. Once you have done this and you're happy just double click on the layer name, and enter a layer name. Once you have entered this just double click to the right of that layer as we need to activate the layer styles options for this. The next step is to add a drop shadow to your button. To do this we need to do the following. First we need to make sure the check is ticked for the Drop Shadow, then we need to apply the following settings;- 8% opacity, 90 degrees for the angle, 5 pixels distance and 0 pixels size. You can enter what you like in here, but to get the same result as this finished button you’ll have to enter the same settings in.


The next step is to make sure you have checked the Gradient Overlay option and the click the gradient image. This will then bring up the Gradient Editor. You now need to click the first Colour Stop, then you need to change it... in this example the colour was changed to #a4cee6. Now you have to click the Colour Stop again to the right and again the settings used in this example were #56add6. After you have done that you now have to add a Colour Stop to the middle, so to do this you need to right click below the gradient in the middle. Again the settings used for this were #468bcc. Now you need to add another Colour Stop at the same location and again you just need to link to the right of it, just below the gradient and again the settings used in this were #81b3e2. Now all you need to do is change the location to around 50%. Your next step is to check the stroke style at the bottom and make sure you select 1 pixel and also make sure you choose white for the colour. As you can see in the image above they have added an extra glow in to button, so all you need to do for this is to draw a path with your Pencil Tool, then fill it in, use white and fade it a bit and you can also set the transparency to around 50%. When you have finished you might be in two minds if you like the colour of your button or not, but don’t worry as you can alter all this in the Hue and Saturation Adjustment Layer. Your simple rounded button should look something like this.

How To Create a Stylish Button The next button we are going to create is a very stylish button. To do this you need to create a blank document, once you have done this you need to Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U). You now need to draw a rounded rectangle, it doesn’t might what your size is to begin with because this will only be an example. Your next step is to right click on the layer you have just made and make it into a Rasterize Layer. See image below.


Next you need to Select your Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and make a selection of about a quarter of the rectangle you have just made. Now right click on that selection you have just made and click on Layer Via Cut and this will cut the new layer. See image below. After you have done this you can delete the first layer and to do that you need to right click and Select Delete Layer. We then need to do the following steps. You need to Select the Move Tool (V), then hold down Alt+Shift Key and this will duplicate the layer. Then you need to go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical and once you're happy just press the Okay button. Nearly there and the next step is to merge the two layers together, so we can do this by pressing Ctrl+E. We now have to set the style settings and to do this you need to go to Layers->Layer Styles->Blending options. To get the same effect as in this example you’ll have to use the following settings.


Once you have altered your settings to the ones above you should end up with something like this. See image below for final outcome.


How To Create a Shiny Round Coloured Button This is a simple but very effective tutorial on how to make a shiny rounded coloured button.

The first thing you need to do is to create a new document. In this example the following settings were used. Make a 100 by 100 pixels and fill the background with white, so to do this you need to Select Edit > White

Next you need to make a new layer and to do this you need to Select > Layer > New Layer and once you have done this then you need to select the Elliptical Marquee Tool. We are now going to make a fixed size selection and in this example the sizes were 75 by 75 pixels and this needs to be in the middle of your document. Next we need to add some colour with the linear gradient from #68ac00 to #036800. You should see something like this.

The next step is to add some layer styles to the icon and to do this we need to Select the following > Layer > Layer Style > Outer Glow. See image below.

The next step is to add the gradient overlay. To do this we need to Select the following: Layer > Layer Style > Gradient Overlay. See image below.


Once you have done that we now need to add a Stroke to it. To do this you need to select the following: Layer > Layer Style > Stroke

If you have done it right you should see something like this:

The next step is to add a nice shiny layer to it. To do this you need to Select > Create New Layer and then select the area of your icon and the quickest way to do this is Ctrl+Click on the icon layer.

Then when you have done this, you need to Select > Modify > Contract by 2 pixels and you can alter this more if you like, but this example was done only using 2 pixels.Next you need to Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool, but make sure you set the style to normal as the next step is a little tricky. You need to hold down Alt Key and then subtract the bottom half of the selection. You should see something like this.


Once you are happy press release.

Once you have done that you need to create a new layer and then select the Gradient Tool. You now need to set your foreground colour to white. Next you need to apply the gradient and the gradient which was used in this example was White to Transparent.

Now you need to left click it just at the top of the selection and just drag it down to just under the bottom of the selection. I know it sounds a lot, but with a few goes you’ll have mastered this. The reason we are doing this is because we don’t need to make it 100% white at the top of the selection to 0% at the bottom.

Your icon should be looking something like this now. As you can see from the image below it’s now looking very shiny.

You have now just created a single button, but why leave it like this. You can add anything you like into this. The best way to add anything in is to use your Custom Shape Tool and in this example an arrow was used.


Your last step is to fill the arrow or your custom shape in with a colour and to do this you need to select the following: Edit > Fill. Once you have chosen your colour you should end up with something like this.

How To Create a Web 2.0 Coloured Button In this example we are going to create a web 2.0 coloured button and again it’s very simple to do and when it’s done correctly the end result is so effective.

Okay the first thing you need to do is Select your Rounded Rectangle Tool. The choice is yours on how big you make your button. Now drag out your main shape till you're happy. Once you have done this go to the layers menu and right click that layer to make it as a Shape Layer and then you also need to make it as a Rasterize Layer.

Once you have done that you need to double click that layer, which will get you to the Layers Style Menu. In this example the following setting were used.


Our next step is to write some text in your text layer. You can put anything you like in here and you could even draw or add a shape in if you like. If you are happy with what you have added in then press the OK button.

Next we are going to add some glossiness to the button and this will give it that “WOW” effect. To do this we need make a new layer, then you need to hold down Ctrl and click on the shape layer to load this selection. Next with the selection tool you need to drag and intersect with the first selection on the top of your button. You can even do this on either side if you like. See image below

Now we need to make a gradient. The gradient we are going to choose will be “White to Transparent”. You must then drag it within that selection. You can also add a reflection to this button, but like I said we need to give it that “WOW” look. To do this you need to copy the shape layer that you made earlier and drag it down beneath the button you have just made. Then you need to load that selection with a gradient which will be “White to Transparent” and then drag it into the selection. Your finished button should look something like this.


How To Create a Download Button You should have noticed by now that most buttons are created in roughly the same way, but you just have to add little extras in to give it that different look and feel. The next example we are going to create a simple Download Button.

To start with you need to create a new document and in this example the sizes used were 400 x 110 pixels.

The next step is to make the shape of your button and to do this we are going to Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Again in this example the settings used for the radius were 10 – 15 pixels. Next you need to draw out your button onto a canvas in the colour you like. See image below.

Next you need to apply the Layer Styles. To do this you need to right click your button layer which you made earlier and then Select > Blending Options. In this example the following settings where used.


You can choose any colours you like from the above Layer Style, but in this example and in the following, the same settings were used. Your button should look something like this.

Next we need to give your button a glossy shiny finish. So you first need to make a selection around the inside of your button, Select > Load Selection. To get the inside selection to fit just right you need to contract your selection by roughly 5 pixels to do this and you need to Select > Modify > Contract. You should now have something which looks like this.

Your next step is to create a new layer, once you have done that you then need to drag a “White To Transparent” gradient from the top of the selection to the bottom and again you should end with something like this.


We are now going to add a nice curvy path into the button, so to do this we need to Select the Pen Tool as we did before and again turn your path into a selection. Once you have done this you then need to delete the bottom half of the gradient. Your final result should look like this. Don’t worry if it doesn’t, just keep practising and you’ll soon master it.

Now it’s time to add some text into it. The best way around this is to use your Horizontal Type Tool (T) and this can be found in your Tool Box on the right. In this example the text used was Myriad Pro. The size was 24pt for the Top Line and for the text on the bottom line it was Myriad Pro Semi bold Italic and the size was 12pt. The colour that was used was White.

Another great way to finish any button off is to add a reflection to it. To add a reflection shadow you need to duplicate your main button layer, than move it into position under your button layer and then it’s just a case of removing everything accept the top. See image below for final outcome.

How To Create a RSS Feed Button In this example we are going to create a very nice RSS Feed button and nearly all the settings in this example are the same as the one above, but we are adding an icon and changing the colour.

First you need to create a new document and once you have done this you need to select the Rounded Rectangle Tool like we did before.

Next you need to create the size of your shape and specify the radius size. After you have done that you need to right click on your rectangle layer and choose Blending Options


Next you need to set your gradient overlay and in this example the gradient parameters settings were... First and second thumb: 434343, third 000000. You also need to select your stroke parameters and again in this example the stroke parameters were set to 363636. After that you need to set the Inner Glow. Your button should look something like this.

If you are happy with that your next step is to create another rectangle by using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. This new rectangle will be used as the button glare and to get the glare you were looking for you need to do the following;- Right click on the Glare Layer and make this into a Resterize Layer, then click edit in the Quick Mask Mode which can be found in your Toolbar. Next you need to choose the Gradient Tool and you can choose any you like in there, it’s up to you. Once you are happy and you have left the Quick Mask Mode you will then get a selection area and then you just need to click the delete button. You should now have something like this.

Next you just need to add the layer with the Text in and also add the RSS icon in if you like and you should end up with this very cool RSS Feed.

How To Create a Navigation Bar Button We have been looking at the basic and single buttons in the last few tutorials, but now we are going to take a look at the more complex navigation bar buttons. They're not too hard, they just look hard to make.

In this navigation bar button tutorials we are going to make a navigation like the ones you see in vista.


Okay, let's get started. The first thing you need to do is to open a new file and for this example the following settings were used;- 500 x 50 pixels. Once you have done that you need to make a selection with the following settings 480 x 30 pixels.

Next you need to Select Modify > Smooth and then apply the following settings;- 2 pixel ratio. You should see something like this.

After you have done this your next step is to create a new layer and there are two ways to do this;- Layer > New > Layer or the shortcut is Shift+Ctrl+N. You can fill that selection with any colour if you like. After that you then need to apply the following layer styles settings. The gradient used in this example was 313332 to 46474a. See image below

Your stroke settings should be set to the following settings: 676767


Now you need to select the top half of your navigation bar and create a new layer and make this a “White to Transparent” gradient, but only the top to bottom

Now set your blend mode to Linear Dodge and also set the opacity to around 35% and if you have done this correctly you should have something like this.

Your next step is to create a new layer and make a new selection, this must be one pixel under the top of the border from the navigation bar you have just made. It should look something like this.

Now you need to fill this selection in the colour white, but that is only if you want to copy this example. Again it should look something like this.

Now you must press Ctrl+Click over the first layer thumb, this will select it. Once you have done this you need to press Select > Inverse. After you have done this you then need to press Del, but the 1 pixel white line layer must be selected. You should now see something like this.

Once you have finished this you then need to change the layers blend mode to Soft Light and also change your opacity to around 65%

Now for the tricky part. This is where we are going to make a roll-over effect. You now need to create a new selection and make this to the following dimensions 130 x 24 pixels. Once you are happy with this you need to Select > Modify > Smooth and you must


apply a 2 pixel ratio. See image below.

If you have got this far you are doing well. The next step is to create a new layer and you need to fill it with any colour you like, just like you did before. The gradient overlay settings for this example were set to 000000 to 2f3233.

Next you need to set your stroke settings and again in this example the settings used were 0f1011 to 575858

Once you have done this you again need to create a new layer. You now need to select it. To do this you need to Ctrl+Click, but this must be over the layer thumb. Next Select > Edit > Stroke. In the dialog box you need to add a 1 pixel white border. See image below.


You now need to change the opacity on this and the setting used was 15%. See image below for final outcome.

Your next step is a repeat of what we did before. You need to select the top middle half of your new roll-over. Now in a new layer you need to apply a “White to Transparent” gradient and this will only be for the top to the bottom. Next you need to change the opacity to around 75%. You should have something like this.

Now it’s just a case of adding some text and you can use any text you like in here, but I would make sure the text colour is white. To make the final touch to this navigation bar you need to add some separators. To do this you need to create a new layer and make a selection. To do this you need to use a Single Column Marquee Tool. In this example the following settings used were 1a1b1c. Now you need to move the selection 1 pixel to your right and fill this with 5d5f60. After that you need to move the selection by 1 pixel to the right again and fill this with 232526. You should have something like this.

You’ll now have to erase the bottom and the top parts. To do this you need to use a soft brush something around 15 pixels should do it, but you’ll have to change the layers opacity


to around 50%. To do the other two links you’ll just have to duplicate the layer twice. Once you have done this your navigation bar will look like this.

How To Create a Apple Type Tab Navigation Button Again this is a very simple tutorial. Okay let's get straight into it. The first thing you need to do is create a new document and make it 500 x 100 and make sure the background is white.

Your next step is to Select the Rectangle Tool. In this example the following radius settings used were Radius 5 pixels. Then start to create your first shape and once you are happy with this you need to duplicate it. The best and quickest way to do this is by pressing Ctrl+J as this will duplicate your layer. Once you have done this and created four buttons you need to place them next to each other as shown in the image below.

Your next step is to add the following layer styles, first it’s the Outer Glow as you can see with the image below.


Next it’s the gradient overlay you have to alter. See image below.

Once you have done this, you should end up with something like this. Don’t forget you can have any colour you like, it’s just a case of playing around with the settings.

If you are happy you then need to Select the Rectangle Tool again and make another thinner and longer rectangle. See image below


Next you need to go back into your layer style settings and add the following layer styles in. The first one is the gradient overlay. See image below

Once you have applied those settings your end result should look like this. Again you can have this looking like anything you like. See image below for final outcome.

Nearly finished, again if you are happy with what you have done up to now you need to select your Line Tool and the settings which were used for the line tool in this example were a weight of 1 pixel.


Now you need to make 3 new lines and then place them on your new rectangle which you have now just created. See image below. That’s it you have now just created a very nice looking apple style navigation bar button.

How To Create a Vertical Menu Navigation Button In this example we’ll be going through a vertical menu navigation button, again you can make these navigation buttons in any style you like. Just let your imagination run wild.

Your next step is to make your shape and to do this you’ll be using the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and in this example the following settings were used. The radius was set to 20pixels and the foreground colour was set to 1d97bc. Then you need to drag the four lines across so it makes your shape. See image below

If you are okay with the size and everything your next step is to Select the Pen Tool (P) and hold Ctrl and click near one of your top rectangle borders. What we are trying to do in this next step is make two of the corners square.

To do this you need to make Anchor Points on each side and they need to be at the bottom and the top. In this example you’ll see the 90 degree corners are opposite. See image below.


Again if you are happy with the outcome, you need to apply the blending options for your new shape. As you can see the following settings were used in this example.


Next you need to apply your text style and to do this you need to Select your Text Tool. You can type anything in here you like. Okay, you now need to Select your Pencil Tool (B) and draw some lines underneath your text. This needs to be done in a new layer and set the colour of your new line to black. Once you have done this you need to repeat it with another line, but this time set the colour to white. Now all you need to do is change the opacity to 15%. Depending on how big you made your new shape will depend on how many lines you can put in. In this example you’ll see seven lines. All you need to do to make a new line is to duplicate your first line Ctrl+J. See image below

If you have got this far you’re doing really well. Now your next step is to create two new lines which will be in between the horizontal lines you have just created. To do this you need to use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M). First you need to create a new layer and then fill that selection from the two new lines in any colour you like. Again you’ll have to repeat this for all the others in between lines and to do this you just need to duplicate your last layer Ctrl+J. See image below

Once you have finished that you just then need to add some more text in the spaces. When you are doing this make sure you choose the Horizontal Type Text Tool (T).


This effect does look really cool like that, but why stop there.

Lets make an Hoover effect on all your buttons. To do this you need to make a selection over your first button you have just created; then make a new layer, but make sure you place this under your first text layer. To add a different colour make sure you use the Gradient Tool (G), then just fill that selection in. Your final button image should look something like this.

Volume 7 Summary In this Volume, I’ve tried to show you the basic ways of creating buttons, yes there are some more advanced techniques within these examples but they are easy to master. Infact once you have mastered the basics in creating Photoshop buttons you can just about create any type of button you like.


Volume 8 - “Advanced Photoshop Techniques”

How To Create Thumbnails For Multiple Images Creating thumbnails for multiple images sounds very easy and to be honest it’s very simple and quick to do. The first thing you need is plenty of images. Next we need to create an Action within Photoshop. Then you need to open just one of your images that you wish to resize in Photoshop. Next you need to go to your Actions Palette and then Select Windows > Actions. You then need to Create A New Action and to do this you need to click on the Create New Action icon at the bottom of your palette. See image below.

Once you have successfully done that you’ll see a new dialog box which will say New Action. Once you have given your action a name you need to press on the Record button, which is a small red circle. If you now look at your Action Palette you’ll see you are recording your commands for this action.

Your next step is to Select Image > Image Size. You will be given another dialog box, which you have to enter your image sizes in. Once you are happy with your new sizes click the OK button.


For your next step you need to save the thumbnail and to do this we need to Select File > Save For Web. Once you have done this you need to give it a quality value of around 50 and save it as a JPEG and again once you're happy, just click Save.

A great tip here is to make sure you don’t overwrite your original files, so the best thing to do is to make a new folder and then store you new thumbnails in that folder.

Once you have done this and you have saved your new thumbnail you need to close your original image without saving any of your new changes. Once you have done this you can then click the Stop Button, which you can see in your Action Palette. See image below.


If you would like to see your new action in process all you have to do is open up another photo and then make sure you select the action you have just made in the Action Palette and then just press play. This is a simple way of automatically resizing just one image at a time. The next step is to resize multiple images all together. First you need to Select File > Automate > Batch, and you’ll now see the batch dialog box appear. Before we go ahead you need to remember you have already created your action for the single image resize, so we don’t need to create another. Next you need to grab your saved action which you made before and then open your folder, which has all your images in that you are going to resize. To find your folder you need to Select the Source drop down. Photoshop by default always gives you another folder for your destination folder so make sure you choose the correct one. See image below If you are happy just click on OK and run your new batch command. You notice that once you have clicked OK, Photoshop will run through your new action and change all images to your new size. To view your new and resized images just click on the folder you saved then to. As you can see from the image below all these new images are now the same size.


How To Create A Batch Command Photoshop has some amazing features and creating a batch command comes into that category. Basically a batch command will let you play an action in any of your folders or files that you have created. This is a great tip if you are running a batch command, so try reducing the number of saved history states and this will speed up your performance and you can also try deselecting the Automatically Create First Snapshot option, which you’ll find in your history palette.

Okay, let’s get started with your first batch command.

The first thing you need to do is Select File > Automate > Batch. Next you need to select the correct Set and Action from within the Play option.

Next you’ll have the option for Source and inside the Source option you have a drop down menu which contains “Folder, Import, Opened Files, File Browser”. See image below.


Your next step is to put a tick in the check box for Override Action Open Command and the reason you are doing this is because you want the action to refer to your batched files rather than the file names which are specified in your action.

If your action was recorded in order to operate on any of your open files or any specific files for an action, then you need to deselect that check box. After you have done that you need to put a tick in the check box to Include All Subfolders, and this will process all the files in your subfolders.

You can also put a tick in the Suppress file Open Options Dialog and this will only hide the dialog for file open options, although sometimes this can be useful when dealing with RAW files.

You now need to put a tick in the last box which is Suppress Colour Profile Warnings and all this does is turn off the colour policy message. In the Destination option you have three choices; None, Save and Close and Folder

When you are using this option, it’s always best to select the Save and Close options and the reason being is that you have the options of selecting the override action “Save As” command option.


You might choose a folder as your destination, but you then need to specify your file naming convention and you must select file compatibility options for your processing files. Underneath that is the File Naming and while using this you need to select elements from the pop up menus or you can just enter some text in the fields which are being shown. When you are entering your text into the fields you need to include a unique text for every file and this way it will prevent your files from being over written. Your File Naming Option will include the following;

Document Name: original image name with first letter upper-case

document name: original image name with all lower-case

DOCUMENT NAME: original image name with all upper-case

1 Digit Serial Number: 1, 2

2 Digit Serial Number: 01,



Serial Letter (a, b, c): lower-case serial letter

Serial Letter (A, B, B): upper-case serial letter

mmddyy (date): Date in month day year format

mmdd (date): Date in month day format

yyyymmdd (date): Date in year month date format

yymmdd (date): Date in year date month format

yyddmm (date): Date in year date month format

ddmmyy(date): Date in date month year format

ddmm (date): Date in date year format

extension: File Extension in lowercase

EXTENSION: File Extension in UPPERCASE


Your next option is Starting Serial Number. You need to enter your letter or number in there. Underneath that is the Compatibility. You just need to enter a tick in the box for which ever operating system you are working on.

.

Once you have filled in all of that you need to go to the Errors Box. Inside there you’ll see a drop down menu that gives you two options; Stop For Errors and Log Errors To File.

Stop For Errors will just suspend your batch command until you confirm it and Log Errors To File will just log all of your errors to a file and carry on running.

Once you have done that you just need to click Save As.

How To Create a Copyright Watermark In this tutorial I’ll be showing you how to add a nice looking copyright image to your photo, but we’ll make it look transparent. Your first step is to open your image and then got to your Action Palette as we now need


to create a new action. You can call this new action any name you like, as you can see in the example below, where the name “Watermark” was used.

Your next step is create a new layer and once you have done this you need to Select your Custom Tools. Inside there you have a really nice copyright image. See image below.

Next you just need to apply this copyright image onto your image. Once you have done this you need to Emboss it onto your image. To do that you need to Select Filter > Stylize > Emboss. See image below


If you are happy with that, you need to change your layer mode to hard light. You could if you really wanted add some text under this copyright image. To do this you just need to Select the Horizontal Type Tool from your Tool Box and just write anything you like.

If you want to embed your copyright note all you have to do is Select File > File Info and this will then bring up a dialog box where you can add all your information.

Once you’re happy all you have to do is click on the stop icon, which you’ll find at the bottom of your actions palette.

Your last step is really easy and all you have to do is Select File > Automate > Batch, and then it’s just a case of choosing your actions name “Watermark”, and then just click on “Choose”. From here on you can choose your folder which you’d like to add the watermark to. After that you have to Select Save and Close which you’ll find under Destination.

You will then have applied all your images or photos with your copyright watermark. See image below as an example.


How To Save Photoshop Actions When you're using your actions you will want to save them from time to time or you could just get really big headed and show your friends just how good you really are at Photoshop. The way around this is to create a new set button and to do this you need to Select Create New Set Button, which you’ll find at the bottom of your actions palette. You’ll then see a New Set dialog box and in there you need to enter your name. Once you're happy just click OK. Next you need to got to your actions palette as here you need to drag and drop that action which you intend to share into this new set. See image below.

Now with your action set now selected, all you have to do is open your actions palette menu. In order to access this all you need to do is click on the very small triangle you can see at the bottom. Then just Select Save Actions and here you have to specify the location for your action file. To be honest you can save your actions anywhere you like, but I like to save them in the Photoshop defaults folder and the reason for this is because it will automatically open it up for you when it starts up....Cool. To find any action file you notice that the extension is .atn. Now it’s just a case of sending it to your friend, (make sure they pay you for it…Only Joking).


How To Create a Web Photo Gallery Inside Photoshop you’ll find some little treasures and personally I think this very neat little feature is one of them - Creating web based galleries, as you will see that Photoshop automatically creates HTML for you. The first thing you need to do for this is to put all your photos into one folder and give it a simple name like “Web Base Photos”. Next you need to Select > File > Automate > Web Photo Gallery. You should see a dialog box which should say Web Photo Gallery. Inside your dialog box you’ll be given several different styles and you can access these through the drop down menu. Once you have chosen your style a very small preview box will appear and this will be in the right hand column. As you can see in this example only basic was chosen. See image below. All you have to do now is click on the folder where your images are and then click on the destination button and then you have to select where you want your image to go to. That’s it and you have just completed your first web gallery. Once it’s finished it should look something like this, but it all depends on which options you have chosen.


How To Create Animated GIFs in Photoshop Creating animation in Photoshop can be very daunting, so you need to keep it very simple to begin with. In this example below you’ll see it’s very basic but it looks cool. For this example in animation you’ll be using the most common methods used, which are Turning Layers off and Turning layers on, plus you’ll also be using the Tween command and this will animate the movement of your objects.

So your first step is to create a build up of layers so you need to build them up from start to finish, as you can see from the example below, seven layers have been created

Your next step is to add your animation and to do this you need to Select Windows > Animation and Photoshop will then automatically show your animation frames at the bottom of the screen.

Now this is the tricky part as we are turning on and turning off the visibility for your layers.

On your first frame you need to turn the visibility off for all your layers and the next step is to add all the layers which you are going to use, but you need to turn the visibility back on. I must stress you only need to add one layer at a time.


Now you have added all the frames in and your count down is ready, you need to create the illusion that your rocket is taking off. So your next step is to add one more frame, but this time you need to select the group which will be your last one. Then Select Tween, which can be found in the Animation Palettes pop out menu.

Next you need to select how many frames to add and again by default Photoshop sets and spreads the movements of your layers across the frames.

You also have an option to set the timing which can be very handy.

Once you have set everything up the way you want it and all of your frames are working correctly; (I mean by this the timing between each frame), then it’s time to export your animated images (GIF’s).

To do this you need to Select > File > Save For Web and Devices.

You must also make sure your image type is set to GIF and nothing else.

Now for the exciting bit, so when you are ready to test this out just drag your file to your web browser and watch your animation go. Who knows you could be the next

Volume 8 Summary In this Volume, I’ve tried to show you some of the more advanced techniques within Photoshop, but at the same time I’ve also tried to show you just the very basics. Photoshop can get very complex once you start entering into the stages for the very advanced but first you need to master the basics and once you have conquered all of this you’ll be well on your way.


Volume 9 - “12 Proven Ways To Make Your Images Stand Out”

Learn The Simple Way To Facial Retouching In this tutorial we are going to be looking at facial retouching. It’s real easy to do and very effective on your final image. As you can see in this image below we are this women has a beautiful smile, but we are going to get rid of the unwanted wrinkles and moles.

The first thing you need to do is open up the image which you are going to alter, next you need to duplicate your background layer. Your next step is to go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, and you’ll do this on your new layer. Then just click OK.

You now need to set your layers blending mode to colour. Next you need to double click on that layer which will open the blending options. Next you need to un-check the following two options which are R and G. See image below.


Next we need to use the Curves and the reason we are using the curves is to balance the colours in your image. Next you need to create a new Curves Adjustment Layer and you can do this by going to the top of your layer palette. After that you then need to click on the little button which is a the right of the Preset Control and then we need to Select > Load Preset, as this will load the file.

After you have done that we are now going to smooth out the face. You can use any of the cloning or healing tools for this, but in this example the Healing Brush Tool (J) was used. We are going to remove the four freckles which can be seen on her face and body. See image below

To do this you need to create a new blank layer and this should be just above your background layer. Now you need to Select > Healing Brush (J) and at this stage you need to make sure the “Sample All Layers” is checked. Now just paint over the four freckles. If you are doing anything like this make sure you never alter your source image, as you never know when you might need it.

Next we need to duplicate the 3 layers which are below your Curve Layer. To do this you just need to drag them down to the new layer button and then make sure you press CMD + E as this will merge your 3 duplicates.


Your next step is to Select > Polygonal Lasso Tool. Once you have selected this you need to click around her face, so keep doing this until all the skin is selected. Once you have done this and you're happy, you need to press ALT and click on anything which is not skin, eyes, lips, eyebrows etc. Again if you are happy with this, you need to go back and deselect the areas which have a detail which needs to remain, ie nose, collar bone, dimples etc. You should end up with something like this.

Next you need to invert the selection and to do this we need to press (Shift + CMD + I), and next you need to delete those pixels.

If you're happy, you need to Select > Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. In this example the following figures were used;- the radius 20, the layer opacity was 75%. You now need to select and duplicate the same bottom 3 layers and then press CMD + E as this will merge the 3 together.

Now you need to put that layer just above the blurred layer. You should now have the new layer selected and you now need to press CMD + Alt + G. What you are doing now is creating a clipping mask and we do this because the top layer uses the bottom layers transparency for a mask.

Next you should still have your new layer selected and need to Select > Filter > Other > High Pass and the setting used for the radius was 4. See image below to see what it should look like.


Once you have done this your next step is to set the blending mode of that layer to Linear Layer and make sure you set the opacity to around 40% and that’s it. See below for the final image.


How To Make Your Image Pop Out In Photoshop As you can see this really is a dull and very bland photo, so what we are trying to do here is make this image really pop out at you. It’s a very simple and easy technique and extremely powerful. You can do this with any image you like and it will work. The first thing you need to do is open your dull and bland image, so see the image used below;- Once you have loaded your image into Photoshop you need to go to your Levels Channel (Ctrl +L). In there you’ll see three arrows in the “Input Levels” and you now need to drag the three arrows together. Make sure you preview your image before you click Save. You should have something like this. See image below.


Your next step is to duplicate that layer, so just right click and Select > Duplicate Layer. Next you need to Select > Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Once you have selected this you need to Select > Soft Light and make sure you set you opacity to around 75%. The reason why we are doing this is because we are darkening the darker colours and making the lighter ones more vivid and brighter. See image below for final outcome.

How To Give Your Images A Different Colour Balance In this tutorial we are going to show you how to give your images a different colour balance and if you are going to try this, it’s best to work with a facial image. Your first step is to open your facial image up in Photoshop. Then you need to make a copy of your background layer and to do this you need to Select > Layer > Duplicate Layer. See Image below


Next we are going to add more contrast to this image and to do this you need to Select > Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast.

A great tip and a must is to create a clipping mask when you are using layer adjustment. You’ll notice that your Brightness/Contrast will differ from image to image, so you’ll have to fine tune your settings. Once you are happy with your Brightness/Contrast you need to merge the clipping mask. To do this all you need to do is right click on your layer and Select > Merge clipping Mask. For your next step you need to apply a soft brush, but it needs to be on a low opacity. To do this you need to create a new layer > Layer > New > Layer, and the reason we are doing this is because if you mess up you can just erase that layer, so this way you don’t need to start all over again. Next you need to change the colour balance and to do this you need to Select > Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Colour Balance, but remember when you are doing this make sure you use the previous layer to create your clipping mask. See image below


Once you are in your Colour Balance you will need to change the balance to Cyan and Blue, but like I said before each facial image is different so you’ll have to play around with the settings. If you are happy with your settings you just need to merge the clipping mask. Next you’ll have to make a second background copy. To do this you need to Select > Layer > Duplicate Layer. Now you are going to have to set your colours in your tool menu to white and pale blue. The easiest way to do this is to Select > Eyedropper, as this way you can pick out the perfect colour. Next you need to make sure the pale blue is in the background box. Once you have done this you need to Select > Filter > Distort > Diffuse Glow. You will have to play around with the settings, but what we are looking for is a soft and not to bright finish. When you feel ready your next step is to make a new layer. To do this you need to Select > Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels and again you need to remember to check (use previous layer to create clipping mask). Once you're in the Levels, play around with the settings to make them a bit darker, and again each image will be different. See image below. Once you are happy you then need to merge the clipping mask and to do this you need to right click on your layer and Select > Merge Clipping Mask. See image below


Next you need to make a third background copy, so to do this you need to Select > Layer > Duplicate Layer. Once you have done this you then need to Select > Filter > Artistic > Poster Edges. See image below

What we are looking for here is to make the poster edges softer, so you’ll have to play around with the settings in here and find what works best for you. Next you’ll need to erase the background on your poster edge layer and this will be on the third copy of your background. The reason we are doing this is because it will give us a shaper image and make the background softer. Once you have done this you will have to merge your third and second background copies together. To do this you can Select > Ctrl > Click Both Layers > Merge. Next you need to add the white square in your background box and then Select > Filter > Distort > Diffuse Glow. See image below


Again you’ll have to play around with your settings here, but what you are looking for is a setting which is not too soft and not too bright. You can if you like make the background behind your facial image brighter and if you like it this way, your facial image stands out more. Next you need to make a colour change. To do this you need to Select > Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Colour Balance. Again you need to check (use previous layer to create clipping mask). Now with your Colour Balance selected and opened, make your final settings to your facial image by altering Blue and Cyan. See images below for before and after shots.

How To Enhance Saturation In Your Images What we are trying to do here is to try and give your image a saturation boost so that we make it stand out more.

The first thing you need to do is open up your image. Next, as always is to duplicate your layer. To do this you need to Select > Layer Duplicate Layer, or press Ctrl + J.

There are a few ways we can do for this, so first we’ll be using LAB Colour. To do this you need to Select > Image Mode > Lab Colour . See image below


Next you need to use the Curve Tools and to do this we need to Select > Image > Adjustment > Curves Menu or press Ctrl + M. You now need to select the channel “a”; which can be found in the drop down menu, and you now need to create an “S” curve. To do this you need to move the two points closer to the middle and if you need to make it less saturated you need to move them closer outwards. Once you have done this you will have to repeat this with Channel “b”. As you can see in the example image below.

This method works great on landscapes and not too good on facials like this. If you increase the “S” shape you’ll notice that you add more contrast, see image below.


Like I said this is not the best method to use on facials.

The next one is to convert your image into RGB Colour. To do this you need to Select > Image > Mode > RGB Colour.

In the next few steps we’ll be using a technique called “Adaptive Saturation”. Basically all this does is intensify the saturation from the original saturation image or photo.

First you need to add a layer mask, so to do this you need to Select Layer > Adjustment Layer > Reveal All. Next you need to change your blending mode to “Difference”.

You’ll see that you image or photo looks really ugly, and the reason for this is because what you are seeing is the difference between the saturation boost and your original image or photo.

Your next step is to make sure you have your layer mask selected. To activate this you need to click on that layer in your layers palette. Then you need to Select > Image Apply Image, and this will open the Image Tool. In this example the following settings where used, see image below.


Next you need to change your blending mode back to normal. You’ll see this in the layer palette at the top left in the drop down menu.

Your next step is to select that layer mask and then Select > Image >Adjustments > Auto Levels and the reason we are doing this is because we need to increase the difference between the blacks and whites.

This Adaptive Saturation Technique and LAB colours channels has now finished. Your next step is to apply a normal Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer.

To do this you first need to duplicate your background layer, but you must move this to the top in your layer palette. Next open your Hue/Saturation and adjust your settings accordingly, and once you're happy just click OK.

Next you need to press and hold down the Ctrl key and make sure you select the top two layers, and once you have done that you need to press Ctrl + G, as we are placing these two layers into a group here. Now you need to Select the group and then Select > Layer > Layer Mask >Hide All.

In the image below you’ll notice the difference between the LAB colour mode (left) and the Hue/Saturation (right)


Now you need to make sure that you have your layer mask for the layer group selected. You now need to click on your layer mask and select it, then you need to Select > Brush Tool and you’ll find this in your Tool Box on the right hand side. Your settings need to be set to hardness 0%. If you are using this image you can use the following settings below.

All you have to do now is to paint the areas with your brush tool to make your image look better. See the image below for the final outcome.

If you have a look at the image below you’ll see all the different colour techniques you can use and also you’ll see the final version of each facial image.


How To Apply Airbrush Skin To Your Facial Images This is one of the most used techniques for Digital Photographers. In fact you can alter your facial image so much by using this technique... It’s really quite amazing. When you see all the front page covers of all the glossy magazines this is the technique they use and it’s so simple to do. So let’s get started.

First you need to open the facial images you are going to use, and I must stress that this technique only works best for facial images.

First you need to duplicate your layer and then put this into a group, and the shortcuts for these are Ctrl +J (Duplicate) and Ctrl + G (Group). Now it’s up to you what you call your group name, but in this example the group was called “Airbrush” and also give your duplicated layer a new name.

Next you need to select your duplicated layer and select your Surface Blur Filter. The reason we are using this filter is because it retains the edge details. See images below

We are trying to get your facial image to look something like you see in the image below, but if it’s not you need to redo your Surface Blur Filter and alter your settings.


If you are happy with your settings just press OK. Next you need to create a new layer, but you must move it above the last layer you just created. Now you need to select this layer and change the blend mode on it to Hard Light. You are going to use this layer to add a slight texture to the skin.

Ok next you need to make sure you have the new layer selected. Once it’s selected you need to Select >Edit >Fill. In this example the following settings where used. See image below.

Next we need to add the noise filter, and to do this you need to Select > Filter >noise Menu. Again in this example the following settings were used. See image below.

After you have done that you now need to Select > Choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Again in this example the following settings were used. See image below.


If you have done this you now need to temporarily tint the colour of this layer. The simplest way to do this is to Select > Eye Dropper Tool, and this can be found in your Tool Box. You now need to sample an area of the skin in your photo. Once you have done this you need to click on the flyout dialog box and select the HSB sliders, which are on the right hand side.

Now you need to open your Hue/Saturation Tool and to do this you need to Select Image > Adjustments >Hue/Saturation. Make sure you have a check in the “Colourize Option”. Then you can adjust the Hue, Saturation and Lightness, but you need to alter them the same as you did before, so make a note of them when you are using them to sample the skin. See image below

Once you have done this you need to select the group you created before, and you’ll find this in the Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All. What happens now is that this layer will create a layer mask, which is filled with the black colour and it will hide the group.

Next you need to press D on your keyboard and this will set the background to your default colours, which are black and white. Then select the Brush Tool and apply the settings below.


When you are doing this its best if you zoom in to around 100% and then paint over the skin in your facial image. You will find that some of the skin tone on your facial image doesn’t look right, but don’t worry about this as the reason it doesn’t look right is because you didn’t choose the correct colour when you applied the Hue/Saturation to tint in one of your layers.

You will have to change your brush size and the best way to go about doing this is with the shortcuts. Decrease brush size: [ , Increase brush size: ], Decrease brush softness by 25%: Shift + [ and Increase brush softness by 25%: Shift + ]. See image below.

Once you have finished and you’re happy you’ll notice that your layer mask will have the skin areas in the white and the skin from your image should be smooth.

In your next step you are going to fix back the colour and the tone of the skin. To do this you need to select that layer and then select hue/saturation. Now we need to apply the natural skin tone. Hue needs to be set around 10, Saturation needs to be set around – 56 and lightness needs to be set around -8, but you will have to alter the settings to fit your image. What you are looking for here is a more natural skin tone.


Your last step is to restore the skin details. To do this you need to Select > Image > Apply Image. In this example the following settings were used. See image below.

As you can see in the before and after images this airbrush technique gives you an amazing smooth skin tone finish.

How To Brighten Up Your Photos Just Like The Pro’s Do In this example we’ll be showing you how to make you underexposed photos into prize winners. Trust me all the pro’s from the digital photography world do this.

The first thing you need to do is bring up an underexposed photo in Photoshop. Next you need to bring up the Brightness and Contrast Tool. To do this you need to Select Image > Adjustment > Brightness/Contrast, then just play around with the settings in there until you find the correct exposure setting you like.


In fact, I’ll guarantee you that there’s no setting in there you like, the reason being is that Photoshop will have made your image more overexposed. So If I were you I would cancel this or just click the undo button.

Here’s another way you can have a go at brightening up your image. You need to use the Levels Tool. So with your image open Select > Image > Adjustments > Levels, then just slide the slider bars from side to side. You will either brighten your image or darker your image, but when you are doing this to make your image more brighter you’ll notice the same effect as you did before and your image will be more overexposed.

Now another technique which the pro’s use is; yes I think you might have guessed it, The Shadows/Highlights Tool. Inside your shadow/highlighters tool you are given an option of using the Curves Tool, as this gives you a lot more flexibility when you are working on underexposed images. By all means give this option a go. Select Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights. The only thing wrong with this technique is if you're using this above 50% you can start to see halos and overly detailed shadows.

So just which is the correct technique?

Okay, let me show you. First things first you need to open your image up and add a Levels adjustment layer to it, so to do this you need to right click that layer and Select > Levels.

Next you need to move the gray input slider to the left and this will brighten the image up. You can also increase the contrast if you like and to do this just move the white slider to the left. If you're happy just click OK.

After this you need to apply the Apply Image Tool, so to do this you need to Select Image > Apply Image. In this example the following settings were used. The reason we are doing this is because we are applying the inverted copy of the image to your layer mask that you have selected. See image below.

After you have done that your image should look like it has a lower contrast and higher saturation. Now if you want to add or increase the contrast to your image just use the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer. See image below


Now all you have to do with the Brightness/Contrast Tool is simply increase your contrast to the correct contrast level you like. See image below

What you are looking for here is for your image to be a natural vivid look. See the example below of two different ways you can alter an underexposed image. As you can see the one on the left is the original image, the one in the middle has been altered using the Brightened and Levels and the one on the right has been altered using this last technique and as you can see it gives you that more natural vivid finish you need.


How To Apply Split Toning To Your Images If you have ever been in any Photographer’s shop you’ll have noticed that they’ll have some photos on the wall which are done in what they call “Split Tone”. Basically Split Toning gives your photos more of a WOW factor and it’s so easy to do. In my opinion this tutorial works best on facial photos rather than on landscape photos, but I’ll let you be the judge of that! Okay, the first thing you need to do like always is to open up your image in Photoshop. Next you need to Select > Layer > New Adjustment Layer >Hue/Saturation. Once this window appears all you need to do is click OK, and what we are after here is to just have a Hue/Saturation layer showing in our Layers Palette. Again like always you need to duplicate this layer, and the easiest way is to Press Ctrl + J, as this duplicates the layer. Once you have done this you will have two adjustment layers and you need to rename them. As you’ll be changing the shadows and highlights it would be OK to rename them Shadow and Highlights. See Image below.

After you have successfully done that we need to apply a layer mask. To do this you need to Select Highlights > Image > Apply Image, and you’ll now be given an Apply Image Tool, so next just simply click OK and you're done.


The next step is to add the colours and to do this you need to Select the Hue/Saturation icon which is on the Highlights Layer in your layers palette. You’ll now see a flyout dialog box and in there you can alter and change the colours to your liking, although we are trying to get a colour which looks a little tinted. See image below.

Once you have successfully done that to your Highlights Layer your next step is to add some colours to your Shadows Layer. See image below

Now we have the two layers altered and coloured the way you want the next step is to adjust the balance between them both. To do this we need to work on the layer mask of the Highlight Layer. Select > Image >Adjustments > Levels. Now you’ll see the slider bars and first you need to slide the middle slider either to the right or left, as this alters the balance between the two colours. See image below.


As you can see in the image above it now has a more evenly spread colour balance. Have a look at the before and after shots below. The one to the left has been split toned and the one to the right is the original.

How To Apply Focus To Your Photos So They Grab Instant Attention This is a must if you want to instantly grab someone's attention to see your image or photo. This a simple trick but the end result is truly amazing.

Before we get started with this tutorial you should able to use this on any type of image, but in the example a really nice and cute little dog was used.

Okay, let’s get started, so first open your image and next we need to duplicate the original layer. To do this you need to Select > Layer > Duplicate Layer. Don’t forget you need to name that layer. Your next step is Select > Image > Adjustments > Hue/ Saturation on your new layer. Once you have opened this you’ll see a silder that needs to be set to around +60. The reason you are doing this is because you need to make the colours more vibrant, so once you're happy just click OK.

After that and with your layer still selected you need to change the blending mode. We are going to change this to “Colour”. To do this you need to select the drop down menu and choose “Colour”. Also in the flyout box you’ll see two check boxes at the bottom and you need to put a tick in the Colour check box. Again the reason for this is because you need to keep your colour vivid, as by doing it this way you won't distort them. See image below.


Your next step is to duplicate your original image, but this time you are going to Select > Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen More. You’ll notice that your image might look like it has been overkilled with sharpness. To get round this you need to Select > Edit > Fade Sharpen More.

Inside that menu you can change the opacity and the blending mode. To start off with I would change the opacity to around 20%. As you can see in the images below one is the original and the other one has been faded.

Your next step is to add an Overlay Radial Gradient as this way you’ll be making the dog the focal point of the image.

First you need to create a new blank top layer. Then with your gradient tool open you need to apply a white to black radial gradient. You need to drag this out from the centre and what you are looking for here is to have the circle white and the outer edges fading to black. You will have to experiment with the size of the circle to find what works best for your image. If you’re happy, your next step is to set your layer to blending mode overlay and then apply opacity of around 50%.


Your last step is to duplicate your radial gradient layer and once you have done that you need to change the blending mode to Multiply and set your opacity to around 20%. Once you have done this you need to Select > Edit > Adjustments > Levels. You’ll see two sliders, one black and the other grey and you now need to slide the sliders closer together. The reason you are doing this is because you need to make the distance of black and white closer. As you can see in the image below it makes your image the focal point of your photo.

How To Enhance Colours With Photo Filters This is a really cool method of adding photo filters to your image and giving it that nice glow finish which everyone wants.

This tutorial works best with sky and landscape photos. First you need to open your image in Photoshop and in this example the sky was selected first. To do this you need to Select > Lasso Tool, and you’ll find this in you Tool Box.

Next you need to select the sky with your Lasso Tool and as you can see in this example below the sky has been outlined.


Next you need to add your first photo Filter. To do this you need to Select > New Adjustment Layer, and now you need to press the icon at the bottom of your layers palette. After you have pressed that you need to select, Photo Filter, and you'll find this in the list from the adjustment layers.

This should then bring up a dialog box for Photo Filter. The reason we are doing this is because we are only changing the sky colour, as that was the only area we selected. Photo Filter works as a camera lens, being that it just adds coloured filters.

This brings up Photoshop's Photo Filter dialog box, and since we selected part of the image before adding the Photo Filter, only the area we selected will be affected by it.

Once in Photo Filter you have two options to choose from, and the one used in this example was Filter, and the settings for this were Magenta.

Now you should have the colour selected for your image and you might want to increase the intensity of your colour. In order to do this you just need to slide the slider bar across from within the Photo Filters dialog box. In this example the slider was set to around 25%.

Once you have done that, your next step is to make sure the Preserve Luminosity option is ticked. The reason you are doing this is because you need to keep your image lighter, but if it’s unticked it will just make your image darker. Once you have done this just click OK. You should have noticed that your sky has more colour to it. Now the next step is to add some more colour to the ground. To do this we need to add another Photo Filter

Again you just need to select the ground which you want to alter, so to do this you need to use a second filter on your adjustment layer. You need to load your original sky selection and then invert it, and this is easy to do as you just need to press Ctrl (Win) on your keyboard and then click on the Layer Mask Thumbnail in your layers palette. See image below.


Now you’ll notice in your layers palette that you have a black and white thumbnail, and this means that the white area is the one which is selected. See image below.

So like I said before we need the bottom selecting and you need to invert your selection. See image below

As you can see from the image above the ground has now become selected, but you’ll also notice that a very small part of the water has been selected too, but we’ll fix this later on.


Now that this selection is in place you can add your second Photo Filter. Just repeat the steps from above to add your Photo Filter in, but when you come to the colour, you need to make the ground look warmer, so try adding a colour like orange in. You could also try adding “Warmer Filter 85”. You can also play around with the density in here and in this example 85% was used.

Once you are happy just Click OK. As you can see in the image below you now have a nice warm effect but the water is now in the wrong colour.

This simplest way to remove this colour is to paint over it with the Brush Tool. So select your brush tool and just paint. What you are doing here is painting on the layer mask, so anything you paint just hides the layer from view. When you are doing this make sure you set your foreground colour to black, and white as your background colour.

You will have to change the size of your brush and to do this you need to use the Left and Right Bracket Keys on your keyboard. See image below.

Now just keep painting until you have uncovered all the water.

Once you have done that you're just about finished, but you can add an extra special touch to it, which gives you that glow like finish which the pro’s have.

To do this you need to use the curves tool. So first make sure you have the top layer selected because this is the layer we are going to add the curves to. Once you have done


that you need to click on the New Adjustment Layer icon, which can be found at the bottom and then Select > Curves.

Once you have clicked on that you’ll see a new dialog box appear which will be your Curves dialog box. What you need to do in here is make the straight line into more of an “S” shape. To do this you just need to click on the line near the top and then click on the line near the bottom. You’ll then have two little squares.

Now you just need to drag them into an “S” shape, but keep the channels to RGB.

That’s it, you're finished as you can see in the two different images below. The one on the undernearth is the original and the one on top is the enhanced image and as you can see it gives you that nice glowy and crispy like finish.

Photoshop’s Simple And Easy Way To Better Exposure You have no need to worry any more about deleting your under exposed digital photos because in this simple and short tutorial I’ll be showing you how easy it is to get the correct exposure to your image.


The first thing you need to do like always is to open your image in Photoshop and duplicate your background layer. The shortcut for this is Ctrl + J

Step 1: Duplicate The Background Layer

You should now have something like this. See image below

Next you need to change the blend mode of your new layer to screen. To do this you need to Select > Layers > Drop Down Menu > Screen. The reason you are doing this is because the screen mode makes your images brighter.

Now you might find that your image is still to dark and if this is the case you need to duplicate that layer again and Select > Layers > Drop Down Menu > Screen again. You’ll now see that your image is looking even brighter now. You could if you really wanted repeat this step as many times as you like until you find the right colour for your underexposed image. Now the next step is to fine tune your image and to do that we need to alter the opacity. To do this we need to use our top layer and then select the opacity which is in the top right hand corner and set your opacity to around 28%. As you can see in the before and after photo below, the underexposed image is now perfect.


Adding Light To Your Image This is another great technique which the professional photographers used, in fact this technique is very common nowadays in wedding photographs. What you are trying to achieve here is to bring more light to your facial image and less attention to the rest of the image and it works best on facial images. Okay let’s get started. The first thing to do is to open your image up in Photoshop, and once you have done that you need to duplicate your background layer. I keep mentioning this and I can’t stress just how important it is, so to duplicate your background just press Ctrl + J, Command + J on a Mac. You should also rename this layer to something you like. Once you have done this you just need to bring up Photoshop’s Lighting Effect Filter. To do this you need to Select > Filter Menu > Render > Lighting Effects, and you should now see your Lighting Effects dialog box. Once in here you’ll see a load of different settings, but don’t get too overwhelmed by them all. The first option you are going to select is Style. If you select the drop down menu you’ll see a load of options, but the one you are going to choose is Flashlight. You can if you like play around with the different options inside here. Once you have selected Flashlight you’ll be given a preview window, which will be on the left. You’ll now see your image inside that preview window. You should have also noticed that the light source is currently located in the centre of your image and you should have also noticed that there are little square handles, which you can move around. In this example you’ll see that the light needs to be where she’s holding the flower, so just drag the small circle and your new light source to your new location. See image below.


Like I said before if you need to increase the size of your light source just drag the handles outwards. See image below.

You could stop here if you’re happy, but you might want to bring more attention to your facial image. To do this you need to bring in a second light source and you need to select Flashlight for this.

So you need to select the Alt Key or option Key for the Mac and click and hold and drag the new light source over to your facial image. The reason you are holding down Alt / Options is because you are copying the light source and not moving the original one. See image below.


Again if you need to make the light source smaller or larger just drag the little handles in. You could if you like add another light source into your image but that’s up to you. In this example another light was added. See image below.

As you can see this image is looking really good, but you might find that the lighting is to much for you, so you can alter this by going to your Edit Menu and then Selecting Fade Lighting Effects, and then it’s just a case of altering your Opacity slider.

That’s it, you might have to play around with your lighting to get the right image you're after. Here’s the before and after shot from this example.



Volume 9 Summary In this Volume, I’ve given you the 12 of the very best and proven techniques which have helped thousands of people alter there Photoshop images to become prize winners. You’ll find these techniques have stood the test of time and you’ll also find that nearly ever professional in these field has used these and are still using these today.



Volume 10 - “Recommended Photoshop Learning Resources” This last volume is specifically to show you where to go from here... which resources and websites I recommend (some are mine!) for your continued education with Photoshop. I have also included a couple of digital photography resources and a Photoshop Elements website as well. Enjoy ☺

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Getting started with photoshop