Photoshop Tutorials

Photoshop tutorial making a cool glowing logo

2008-05-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

Photoshop tutorial making a cool glowing logo

1.start by creating a new project window. I always make it a bit larger then I need.now type in your prefered text.

2. Use your selection tool and make a elliptical selection around your text, and create a new layer from your layers panel. Then hold down your shift key while pressing backspace, fill the selected area with a default color.

3. Now go to your layers style and add style like in the next couple of images.

4. When thats done, also add an outer glow with its default settings, pree ok, and move your text layer above your elliptical layer.5. Make your text layer about 60% in Opacity.6. We will now add a glass kind of effect to this logo. now make a selection so it covers half of your object, hold down shift and press backspace, fill with the color white.

7. Hold down ctrl (control key) and press the layer with your elliptical object from before, and then hold down ctrl and shift at the same time while pressing i, this will invert your selection. now it delete.
8. Now set the opacity of your glass layer to about 60%
9. Go to the layers style for your glow layer and add values as in this image:

10. Here you see my image, I have been playing around with text and fonts and bend my text to fit the object.And your done.

Digital flower

2008-05-09T10:09:00.009-07:00

Now right click on the layer in the Layers Palette and apply a gradient to this layer from #ff3237 to #ff9b01:Duplicate this layer, on the new layer apply a Gaussian Blur filter with the radius set to about 4-7 px then duplicate this layer 2 times.Select the last three layers you created and merge them (you can go to the Layer menu and choose Merge Layers or CTRL+E).Duplicate this layer again and choose Edit > Free Transform and then right click and choose skew and skew it to right like you see in the picture below:Now press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+T and you should obtain something similar to this:Group the last 3 layers and then duplicate the group and go to Edit > Free Transform and choose Flip Horizontal. Arrange the 2 groups like you see below and you will obtain something that starts to look like a flower:Here you can see the 3 layers that a group contains:Make a selection aroud the flower:Create a new layer and fill it with a color;it doesn't matter what color, mine is white. This layer should be arranged below all the layers.
Apply a Gradient Overlay style with these 2 colors: #ff9997 and #fc0100 with a radial style.With a Soft Round brush of 90-100 px delete the upper part of this layer and on the sides.Create a new layer and using the same brush and with the Foreground color set to #f08c2c click once:Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and choose a higher value for the Radius (I used 35 px).Create a new layer above all the layers and using the same brush and with the Foreground color set to white click again once. You should have something like this:You can enhance the saturation of the colors, apply other effects, just let your imagination go free. Here is what I came up with:

Create realistic ice effect in photoshop

2008-05-09T10:09:00.007-07:00

Aplly a Stroke effect with the size of 1 px, Position set to Inside and Color set to #28a6ff.Aplly Color Overlay style, with the Opacity set to 75% and color set to #abc2e4.Apply a Bevel and Emboss style, leave all the settings default except your Gloss Contour which should change to Ring and your Shadow mode color which should be set to #3d5286.Add a Contour style and set your range to 100%, Contour to Cone and check Anti-aliased.Add Texture, with the Pattern set to Wood and Scale set to 63%.Apply a Satin style, but change your Blend Mode to Normal, Opacity to 100% and color to #a6d5f5.Add a Inner Glow, with the color changed to #2b81d9.Add a Outer Glow, with the color changed to #7dd9ff and the Opacity set to 15%.Add a Inner Shadow effect, with the color changed to #484a70.
Add a Drop Shadow style, with the color set to #1b2a6a, Opacity to 40%. Uncheck Use Global Light and set your Angle to -45 degrees, Distance to 65 px, Spread 5% and Size 100 px.Now you have an ice effect that can be easily modified and apllied to any other object you want.I always try to take my photoshop tutorials a little futher and see what else can I come up with if I am continuously improving an image. Here is what I come up with for this tutorial after adding a few other effects:

Silk pearl in photoshop

2008-05-09T10:09:00.005-07:00

Learn How to create a silk pearl with this photoshop tutorial

After weeks of waiting I finally come up with a new photoshop tutorial, this time I though I might show you how to make a silk pearl in photoshop.
Open a new Photoshop document, mine is 250x250 pixels. Using your Elipse Tool (press and hold the SHIFT key) draw a perfect circle. Now double click your layer in the layer pallete and apply the following styles to it: a Gradient Overlay with the Style set to Radial and a gradient that goes from #b68072 at 0% location to #e9b6a0 at 60% location to #fff1d7 at 85% location and finally to #ffffff at 100% location. Your effects should look similar to this:You should also apply a Bevel and Emboss style to it with the style set to Inner Bevel, Technique set to Chisel Hard, Depth 151%, Size 2 px, uncheck use global light and use 38 degrees for Angle and 32 degrees for Altitude. Set the highlight mode to overlay with 100% Opacity and #d1a971 for color and your Shadow mode also to Overlay, with 75% Opacity and #d9b890 as color.Now CTRL+click your shape layer in order to bring out its selection then go to Select menu and choose Modify and Contract and insert a value of 2 pixels (this should big as big enough as the size of the Bevel and Emboss style applied to the circle shape layer).
Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool with a Soft Round Brush of 20 px and using black color draw something like you see in the picture below:Now put your layer mode to Soft Light and Opacity to 80%.Create a new layer, select the Brush Tool with a Soft Round Brush of 20 px and using white color draw something like you see in the picture below:Now put your layer mode to Overlay and Opacity to 80%.Now create a new layer and with a Soft Round Brush of 16 px click once on the light part of your sphere and you should have something like this:Selecet the layer's Opacity to be 60%.Now create a new layer and using your Polygonal Lasso Tool create a star shape and fill it with white:Now CTRL+click your shape layer in order to bring out its selection then go to Select menu and choose Modify then Contract and insert a value of 2 pixels (this should big as big enough as the size of the Bevel and Emboss style applied to the circle shape layer) then press CTRL+I in order to invert the selection. Create a new layer above all the layers, select the Brush Tool with a Soft Round Brush of 20 px and draw two white margins like you see in the picture below:If you want to take this tutorials a little further, you may try to add more light and shadow to your silk pearls; here is what I come up with:

Walkthrough - Quest for the magic wand

2008-05-09T10:09:00.003-07:00

See how I work and think, and watch step by step how I create one of my works from concept to completion with this photoshop tutorial.

The work I'm about to show you was done for the Photoshop Cafe Movie Poster Competition. For this poster, I thought at a fantasy movie scenario... a team of adventurers proceeds in a glorious quest to find a magic wand that is supposed to help them save their realm from the forces of evil. I started by making some stars on a night sky:
Then I've added the hills covered with grass:A light behind the hills for contrast:Then some clouds added over the light in order to amplify it's effect:I have then added an unreal planet, something like a big moon, don't forget we still are in a fantasy realm: A rock:A path and some gravestones and a cross:Even more gravestones and crosses:Our 4 heroes (I put these just to see how they look like and I will later change them). I like how the silhouettes look in front of the light:This is starting to be interesting; the wizzard starts using his powers. For higher contrast I used green and yellow colors on the wizzard's spell:I've added title and info to make it look more like a poster:I've lighten the grass to bring out it's texture and added the shadows. At this point, I am happy with the graveyard look.
Always try to refine your image if you don't like the looks of it, you can always do better; you just have to try until you are satisfied with the result. Add your details gradually:
I've added more details in the title of the poster to make it pop-up more and I've added the name of the actors:I've changed the 4 heroes and replaced them with others, keeping the silhouette-look, with the light behind:
In the end, I modified the look of the wizzard's spell because I wanted more contrast and made it look like a phoenix, coming to help our adventurers in their noble quest. I was very happy with the result, but after working on more posters I decided this shouldn't be submitted in the Photoshop Cafe Contest.

Create realistic rocks and blend them into your scene

2008-05-09T10:09:00.001-07:00

Learn how to create realistic rocks and then how to blend them into an underwater scene with this photoshop tutorial.

Hello and welcome to another photoshop tutorial. Many of my visitors asked me for a photoshop tutorial showing how I did the rocks in the realistic alien water scene were made.Here goes...
Open a new document, mine is 640x480 px then go to the Filter menu and choose Render > Difference Clouds.Now go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and select your light (spotlight) to come from top-left corner of your image, leaving all the other settings intact, like you see in my image below:Your result should be similar to this:Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise and set the Amount to 0.6%, Distribution to Gaussian and check Monochromatic.Apply a Bas relief filter (from Filter > Sketch > Bas Relief) with the following values: Detail: 15, Smoothness: 2, Light: Top.Now duplicate your background layer (go to Layer > Duplicate Layer...) and then aplly a Craquelure filter (Filter > Texture > Craquelure) with the following values: Crack Spacing:80, Crack Depth:4, Crack Brightness:5.Using the Lasso Tool make a selection like you want your rock to look like. Flatten your image (go to Layer > Flatten Image) and copy from the new layer created.
Open the image you want to blend your rock into. Paste the rock into a new layer then press CTRL+U in order to modify the Hue/Saturation: check Colorize then use the following values Hue:220, Saturation:45, Lightness:-20.Now you must darken some parts of your rock and lighten others. I darkened the right part of my rock using the Burn Tool and lightened the upper part using the Dodge Tool (on the next image you have blue arrows to show you where I've used the Burn Tool and a White arrow to show you where I've used the Dodge Tool).Using the Burn Tool with a small brush selected make more cracks into our rock.Hope you liked this photoshop tutorial. Thank you!
I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

bling bling your logo

2008-05-09T10:07:00.019-07:00

Learn how to pimp your logo with diamonds and gold with this photoshop tutorial

I saw many people like the bling bling effect applied to text, but I will show you how to do the best gold and diamonds effect that you can apply to everything you want: your logo, your avatar, anything. For this Photoshop tutorial, we will have to use a new pattern. Just download this image right here, open it in Photoshop then go to Edit > Define Pattern. Now we created a new pattern that we will use as a diamond.

Create a new document, mine is 300x300 pixels. Set your foreground color to #bb6b0c and background color to #d28714 and draw the shape on which you want the bling bling effect to be applied. I'm using a butterfly shape from the shapes available under the Custom Shape Tool. Double click the shape layer you just created in order to see the Layer Styles and choose Gradient Overlay from the options available. Now from the Gradient picker choose the first gradient available (foreground to background), leaving the other options intact.Apply the Drop shadow Effect with the opacity set to 40%, color set to #4b545d, Distance 10px, Spread 0px and size 60px.Now apply a Bevel and Emboss effect with the Style set to Inner Bevel, Depth 810%, Size 8px, Soften 0px; from the shading options set the Angle to 135 degrees, Altitude to 30 degrees, Highlight mode set to Overlay, color white and 100% opacity, Shadow mode set to multiply, color black and 60% opacity, and a Gloss Contour like you see I've drawn mine in the image below.On the same layer aplly a Satin Effect with the Blend mode set to Overlay, Color white, Opacity 25%, Angle 19 degrees, Distance 27px, Size 16px and from the contour options available select the Ring style, like you see I've done in the image below:Create a new layer above the shape layer. Now CTRL+click your shape layer:Choose Select > Modify > Contract and choose 7px then click OK. Your image should look like this:Now press the D key to reset your colors to default black and white and using your Paint Bucket Tool fill the layer you just created with black. Now double click the layer you just filled with black and from the options available choose the Outer Glow Effect with the Blending mode set to Overlay, Color white, Opacity 75%, Noise )%, Spread 65% and Size 3px, leaving the other options intact.Now apply a Stroke effect with a Size of 1px, Position set to Outside, Blend mode set to Soft Light, Opacity set to 80% and Fill Type set to Color Black:Now CTRL+click this black layer and create a new layer above it.Select the layer you just created and choose Edit > Fill and for the Use option choose Pattern and select the pattern we created at the beggining of this tutorial (it's the last one available). Click OK, then CTRL+D to deselect and there you have it:You cam play with the options above and add other effects like shining stars and lighting effects and obtain amazing bling bling effects:That's it, I hope you enjoyed this Photoshop tutorial.
I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

How to create a blueberry

2008-05-09T10:07:00.017-07:00

Learn how to draw a blueberry with this photoshop tutorial

Welcome to another photoshop tutorial! As I was saying I try to have original tutorials or at least an original approach of some old tutorials. For this lesson, I thought maybe I can try to show how to do a blueberry. I had to do blueberry's for a client once and I thought I should make a nice tutorial for you. This may seem to be a very long tutorial but in fact it's not, I only took printscreens on every little step I made.

Create a new document of whatever size you want, mine is 300x300 pixels. Let's start by creating a circle with the Elliptical Marquee Tool, this must be a perfect circle not an ellipse so press and hold the SHIFT key while you are drawing with the Elliptical Marquee Tool. With your foreground color set to #1291c0 and your background color set to #0d0958 create a new layer, select the Gradient Tool and from the Gradient picker select Foreground to Background gradient (it's the first in the list) and then select the radial gradient style. Start dragging from one corner to another. Your settings should be like you see in the image below:You results should be similar to this:Now click the Lock transparent pixels icon (located in the layers palette, you can see on the next printscreen I took where it is located) and then go to Filter > Artistic > Sponge and use these settings: Brush Size set to 3, Definition set to 25 and Smoothness set to 9 and click OK.Now go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the radius to 2 pixels. You should obtain something similar to this:Create a new layer above the circle layer and by using the Polygonal Lasso Tool make a selection similar to what you see I did in the image below:Now press the X key so that your foreground color is the darker shade of blue and using the brush tool fill the are within the selection, but do not deselect yet. You should have something similar to this:Using the Burn Tool simply darken some areas inside the layer you just created. Here is how I done it:Now you have a blueberry just make it a little smaller in size using any transformation method you wantand you can obtain something like this:Let's add a little shadow to our blueberry. Using theEllip tical Marquee Tool, make a selection like you see I've made inthe image below:
Make a new layer and put it beneath all your layers ( you can do that by SHIFT + CTRL + [ or Layer > Arrange > Send to Back). Fill it with black or a darker blue than deselect and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and select a Radius of 2. You should have something you see in the image below:Here is what I obtained after a few hours of work... you have got to love photoshop:You can also check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

Create a kite shield in Photoshop

2008-05-09T10:07:00.015-07:00

Learn how to create a coloured kite shield with this photoshop tutorial

For this photoshop tutorial I thought I might teach you how to make a kite shield like the one below:Open a new document 300x300 pixels, press the D key in order to reset your colors to default colors and Using the Pen Tool draw a triangle, something similar to what you see I draw in the image below:Using the Pen Tool we need to add 2 more anchor points the first should be placed somewhere in the middle of the distance between the upper and the right anchor point and the second should be placed somewhere in the middle of the distance between the lower and the right anchor points, something similar to what you see below:Now, using the Direct Selection Tool, you need to drag the 2 anchor points you just created, one inside the path and one outside the path, until you obtain something like this:Using also the Direct Selection Tool press and hold the ALT key and when you approach the shape layer with your cursor you will see a little + appearing next to your tool. You need to click and drag your shape with the ALT key pressed (while holding the SHIFT key so that you can move in a straight line). You should obtain something like this:What you need now is to horizontally flip the new sub-shape you just created. For this press CTRL+T while your sub-shape is selected (if you deselect it you can reselect it by using the Path Selection Tool) and then right Click anywhere on the image and select Flip Horizontal from the options available, like you see below:Now holding the SHIFT key simply drag the sub-shape until it joins with the other sub-shape: Press the ENTER key. There is you shield. Your image should look similar to this one below:Now you need a little color on your shield so here is what you should do: set you foreground color to darken red, I used #b40000 and the background color to a brighter red, I used #ff130d.
Double click the shape layer you just created in order to see the Lyer Style options and choose Gradient Overlay and from the Gradient picker choose Foreground to Background (it's the first gradient available). You should have something similar to this:Now CTRL+Click the shape layer in order to Load it's selection and using the Rectangular Marquee Tool with the ALT key pressed (in order to substract from the selection) substract 2 times from our selection until you obtain a selection like the one I have in the image below:Create a new layer (mine is called Layer 1) above the shape layer (SHIFT+CTRL+N can be used) and then fill the selection with white. Your shield should look like this:CTRL+Click the shape layer in order to Load it's selection again and create a new layer above all the layers in your image. Go to Edit menu and choose Stroke. On the dialog box that appears select the width of the Stroke to 3 pixels, set the Color to black and from Location select Inside. Click the OK button and with your selection still active got o Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 10 pixels. You should have something like in the image below:You need to add a shadow to your shield so double Click the shape layer again in order to see the Lyer Style options and choose Drop Shadow with the following values: Opacity 35%, Angle 90 degrees, Distance 5px and Size 15px, leaving the other options intact. Your shield should now look like this:You see that the margins look really jagged and you don't want that CTRL+Click the shape layer in order to Load it's selection again and go again to Edit > Stroke. This time I want you to set the Width of the Stroke to 2 pixels, Color to #b3b3b3 and Location to Center. Click OK.At the end of this photoshop tutorial you should have a nice shield like this one:If you want to go a little further with the effects and styles apllied to the shield you can obtain something like I have below:
I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

Photoshop tutorial - Sparkling stars effect

2008-05-09T10:07:00.013-07:00

Learn how to create a sparkling clean stars effect with this photoshop tutorial

Here goes... my first Photoshop tutorial; in this tutorial we will learn to create a very nice sparkling effect and added to a photo, like the one you see below (you can also see some smart use of the sparkling effect in my previous works presented here)..
First of all, we need to understand what the sparkling effect is composed of: lots of stars arranged in random positions and having different sizes. The bigger stars should be in the middle, whie the smaller stars should be positioned on margins.

STEP 1
We need to create a star that will be the base of our effect. Let's start by opening a new work document with 21x21 pixels. You can change this size according to your needs. Now select the Pen Tool and draw a star shape like you see in the picture below (in the photo you have the star shape at 100% and 1600% zoom):
Now, this shape must be rasterized; this can be done in two ways: by right-clicking on the star shape layer we just created and then selecting Rasterize Layer from the options available or by selecting the star layer and then going to the layer menu and select Rasterize > Layer from the drop-down menu.. so it's Layer>Rasterize>Layer.
We must use the star we just rasterized as a brush. We do this by selecting the star layer and then go to the Edit menu and select Define Custom Shape then click OK.

STEP 2

Now with a few brush present we can do that sparkling stars effect you saw in the upper examples. Open the Brushes Palette and let's start: from the Brush Presets select our star brush we just created (it's the last brush on the menu), then from the Brush Tip Shape set the Spacing to 250%-350%, from the Shape Dynamics set the Size Jitter to 40%-60%, Minimum Diameter to 25%-35% and Angle Jitter to 35%-65%, leaving the rest of the options default, and in the end from the Scattering option set the Scatter to 450%-550% and Count to 2 or 3. For a better understanding, you have 3 printscreens of what these presets should look like.

STEP 3
Here is our image thst will have the effect applied on it:With the foreground color set to white start drawing at first with a bigger brush and then with smaller and smaller brushes. Here is how your image should look like:
After you finished drawing the stars, put the layer color mode to overlay and you're done - look at the details, the stars from the margin get some color from the background and you will find this tip very useful in some cases:

I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

10 tips & tricks to make your work easier in Photoshop

2008-05-09T10:07:00.011-07:00

Learn how to optimize your work in photoshop with this tutorial

I will start with my first Photoshop tutorial, ok it's not really a tutorial just some tips, general things that I found to be very useful when working in Photoshop. Even if you are an expert I think you will find some of this stuff usefull:

Right after you installed Photoshop onto your computer, go to Edit > Preferences > General (CTRL+K shortcut) and start customizing the program according to your needs. For example I always choose Zoom with Scroll Wheel from the General (CTRL+1) section then I go to the Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks (CTRL+7) section where I will choose my first and second Scratch Disk; usually I will not choose the first Scratch Disk to be the one that has the system (I use Windows) installed on. Then I will go to the Memory & Image Cache (CTRL+8) section where I will set the Cache Levels to 8 (maximum possible) and the RAM to 55-65% to be Maximum Used by Photoshop (remember that changes will take effect the next time you start Photoshop).

An easier way to switch between the different hidden tools is to use the keyboard shortcut along with the Shift key.

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Polygonal Lasso Tool will allow you use the Lasso Tool and inverse; you can combine these two in order to make a better and efficient selection. I reccomand the use of the Polygonal Lasso Tool (combined with a 300-400% zoom) when you are making a complicated selection (like when you are trying to extract an object from it's background).

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Dodge Tool will allow you to use the Burn tool and inverse.

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Blur Tool will allow you to use the Sharpen tool and inverse.

Pressing the ALT key when you click with the Text Tool will bring you a dialog box where you will be able to choose the Paragraph text size.

Pressing the Space key at any time will let you use the Hand Tool. Pressing the Space key combined with CTRL key at any time will let you use the Zoom Tool (the zoom in option, for the zoom out option also use the ALT key, so it's CTRL+ALT+SPACE for zoom out).

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Move Tool will allow you to duplicate a layer or a selected portion from a layer (if you have a selection made)

Pressing the ALT key when you are using the Ellipse Tool, Rectangle Tool, Rounded Rectangle Tool or Custom Shape Tool to draw the shape from the centre.

Pressing the Space key when you are using one of the marquee tools or shape tools will allow you to move the selection or the shape while you are drawing it.

I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

Unleash the Power Within Adobe Photoshop

2008-05-09T10:07:00.009-07:00

Some amazing photoshop tutorials

Wait a minute! I still don't know how I should start my blog or what introduction phrase I should use... ok I will use HELLO WORLD!
Ok WORLD, my name is Andrei Bilan (yes, that's also the name of the blog), and I am a graphic designer for about 4 years now. What I would like to talk to you about is the great mix of creativity, skills, fun, colors, magic (yes, like in The Lord of the Rings), logic, and with a twist of sugar usually known as Photoshop. Why would I want to talk to you about Photoshop? Well because I simply love it. I am working in Photoshop for about 5 years and I am an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop CS. I really think I can teach you some things you will find very interesting about this program.
First of all, I will show you some of the works I previously done (these were done using only the functions and filters Photoshop offers and not other photo, only some textures here and there)... here we go:

This blog tries to be a guide to the world of Photoshop and clever use of everything this program has to offer. Here you will find Photoshop tutorials, suggestions, advices, and tons of tips and tricks. I will try to keep the tutorials I will present here 100% original and I will do my best to come up with things you never ever saw before on the Photoshop tutorial sites you find on the internet. Of course, you are free to ask me questions and I will try to answer as soon as I can.

I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

autumn leaves

2008-05-09T10:07:00.007-07:00

Learn how to make realistic autumn leaves with this photoshop tutorial

Things are moving faster then I ever thought so here is another Photoshop tutorial, in this tutorial we will learn to create very nice coloured autumn leaves, like the one you see below. First we need to obtain a leaf brush and then use it to creat those wonderful, very nice coloured leaves.STEP 1
Start by searching a leaf photo or something similar, I have a maple leaf photo.
Now, this maple leaf must be separated from it's background and then use it to define a new brush preset. First we need to take the Magic Wand Tool and select the white parts of the image.

Then we need to double click the background layer in the Layer Palette (or go to the Layer menu and select New and then Layer From Background) in order to make it a normal layer.Then click delete key to ge rid of the white parts of the photo and keep only the leaf.
After this we need to increase the contrast a little so go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and set the Contrast to 25 and Brightness to -5. Now it's time to define our leaf as a Brush so go to Edit > Define Brush Preset and click OK.
STEP 2
Now with a few brush present we can do that cool flying autumn leaf effect you see below. Open the Brushes Palette and let's start: from the Brush Presets select our leaf brush we just created (it's the last brush on the menu), then from the Brush Tip Shape set the Spacing to 250%-350%, from Shape Dynamics set the Size Jitter to 40%-60%, Minimum Diameter to 25%-35% and Angle Jitter to 35%-65%, leaving the rest of the options default, from the Scattering option set the Scatter to 450%-550% and Count to 2 or 3 and in the end from the Color Dynamics set the Hue Jitter to 10% and the Saturation Jitter to 5%.
For a better understanding, here are some printscreens of what these presets should look like.

Now set your foreground color to #e89d1a and start drawing. You should have something very close to this:You can play with backgrounds and colors to obtain very nice effects like you see below. Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this new Photoshop tutorial.
I will be back with many more, until then check out some of my other photoshop tutorials:

All my Photoshop tutorials

2008-05-09T10:07:00.005-07:00

Digital flower
Learn how to create a digital flower with this photoshop tutorial.

Realistic ice effect
Learn how to create a realistic ice effect with this photoshop tutorial.

Silk pearl in photoshop
Learn how to create a silk pearl with this photoshop tutorial.

Quest for the magic wand
See how I work and think, and watch step by step how I create one of my works from concept to completion with this photoshop tutorial.

Create realistic rocks
Learn how to create realistic rocks and then how to blend them into an underwater scene with this photoshop tutorial.

Create alien-looking water in photoshop
Learn how to make realistic alien-looking water with this photoshop tutorial.

Bling Bling your logo
Learn how to pimp your logo with diamonds and gold with this photoshop tutorial.

How to create a blueberry
Learn how to draw a blueberry with this photoshop tutorial.

Learn how to create a sparkling effect
Learn how to create a sparkling clean stars effect with this photoshop tutorial.

Unleash the Power Within Adobe Photoshop
Some of my works are presented here.

Create a coloured kite shield
Learn how to create a coloured kite shield with this photoshop tutorial.

10 tips & tricks to make your work easier in Photoshop
Learn how to optimize your work in photoshop with this tutorial.

Autumn Leaves
Learn how to make realistic falling autumn leaves with this photoshop tutorial.

Create realistic ice effect in photoshop

2008-05-09T10:07:00.003-07:00

Learn How to create realistic ice effect with this photoshop tutorial

Digital flower

2008-05-09T10:07:00.001-07:00

Learn how to create a digital flower with this photoshop tutorial

Mysteries Of The Favicon.ico — How To Create A Favicon In Photoshop

2008-05-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

A Favicon is a little custom icon that appears next to a website's URL in the address bar of a web browser. And when I say little, I mean 16 pixels by 16 pixels. So if you like a good design challenge try your hand at this one.

All you need to add a Favicon to your site is a Windows Icon (.ico) file called favicon.ico that you upload to the main directory of your website.

Download The Plugin
You'll need the Windows Icon (ICO) file format Photoshop Plugin to export to the .ico file format. You can download the plugin from Telegraphics. The plugin reads and writes ICO files in 1, 4 and 8-bit Indexed and 24-bit RGB modes, and also reads and writes 32-bit "XP" icons (with 8-bit alpha channel). Make sure to install the plugin before you begin this tutorial.

Let's Begin
Because 16 x 16 is such a small canvas area, it can be very difficult to be creative. So instead start your project with a canvas set at 64 x 64 (always use even multiples when you plan on resizing files). Do this by selecting File>New, and opening a new canvas that is 64 x 64 pixels in size.
The Design

If you already have a logo you should reduce it to the 16 x 16 size to see if it holds up. If it doesn't look good at this size, work with the 64 x 64 canvas and try creating a simple design that incorporates colors from your website's palette.

When you're ready to test the design select Image>Image Size menu and enter 16 x 16. Click on Resample Image and choose "Bicubic Sharper" from the drop-down menu (CS only for this step). This is the best setting for making sure that an image doesn't blur as it's being resized.

If you feel the icon is not quite what you wanted, just keep tweaking it until it is perfect. At this tiny size it can take a few tries before you get it right.
Saving The Custom Icon

Go to File>Save As and make sure you name the file favicon.ico. Under Format you must choose Windows Icon (ICO) from the pulldown menu. This format will only be available in Photoshop after you download and install the plugin. In the next step you'll need to upload this new file to the root folder of your website, so it's a good idea to navigate and save it to that location on your hard drive now.

Uploading The Favicon.ico File
Connect to your server and upload your Favicon.ico file to your website. You must place it into the same directory as your home (index) page, and leave it loose, making sure not to put it in an images directory or other folder.

Some browsers will look for a direct link in the HTML source code to your site's favicon.ico file. You can help these browsers by adding this link in the head section of each page on which you want the Favicon.ico to appear.
Here is the link code to include:
Once you've added this code, upload all of your modified pages.

Testing
If your new Favicon does not show up right away, try refreshing the page — or put a '?' at the end of the url, which will trick a browser into thinking the page is new and not cached.

Troubleshooting
Browser Issues: Microsoft IE 6 for Windows will not display the favicon until the URL has been added to the favorites, and Safari for the MAC will not display an updated favicon until the browser cache has been cleared. But choosing ‘empty cache’ from the menu won't help because Safari stores favicons in a separate cache. You must empty the icon cache yourself. Look for it in User>Library>Safari>Icons.
File Format Not Available: The Windows Icon (ICO) file format will not be available until you have downloaded and installed the plugin, and then Quit and Restarted Photoshop.

Troubleshooting Update
One person who had trouble with Internet Explorer 7 has sent us a little tip:
I had some trouble with IE 7 — but the addition of these 2 lines of code solved the problem:

I found the info here:
www.webmasterworld.com/html/3251565.htm

Inspiration
If you need some inspiration have a look through this nice collection of favicons. Also look at the nice categorized list of 50 remarkable favicons at Smashing Magazine. You might find something that triggers an idea for your own.

That's it. Enjoy your Favicons!

Photoshop guru leaves Adobe for Microsoft

2008-04-28T08:30:00.001-07:00

Mark Hamburg, a programmer who worked on Photoshop since version 2.0 and helped lead development of the newer Photoshop Lightroom, has left Adobe Systems for a new job at Microsoft.

Martin Evening, a Lightroom expert and author, reported Hamburg's new job on his blog Friday, saying Hamburg will be involved in user experience work. A Microsoft representative confirmed the new hire but didn't share further details.

Hamburg was named inventor of the year by the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association in 1999 and entered the National Association of Photoshop Professionals' Hall of Fame in 2003.

Parenting: All The Fun Is In The Top Half

2008-04-24T06:23:00.019-07:00

What will your baby be like? Will she have any legs?
Ten things you can do that don't need a lower body.
Half the child, twice the fun.

Thanks to Tami. Sorry, no bigger a/w.

Curves Cereal: The Lid Said Flesh Tone

2008-04-24T06:23:00.018-07:00

Can't... find... words...

Update: Looks like we're #1 on Reddit! Thanks to Jessica.

Maxim: OMG I Have X-Ray Vision

2008-04-24T06:23:00.017-07:00

This hottie from Maxim's 2007 Hometown Hotties apparently cooled a little too quickly.

Thanks to Lindsey!

LiLo: I'm Not Bad I'm Just Photoshopped That Way

2008-04-24T06:23:00.016-07:00

La Lohan gets the pneumatic-airbrush Jessica Rabbit treatment in this UK version of her latest cartoon.

Thanks to gregorysl for the tip. Original here.

This Internet Sure Is Shiny

2008-04-24T06:23:00.015-07:00

Boss: Yeah, great, laverly. Just one thing. Let's have a reflection in the screen.
Designer: Wot?

Original is here. Thanks to Marcio Toledo!

Motorola: You Know Whats Great About Women With Huge Hands?

2008-04-24T06:23:00.014-07:00

Remember when Apple was dragged over hot coals for using a well-endowed hand model to make their iPod look smaller? Motorola throws caution to the wind and brazenly scales up their RAZR model's mitts. (As if the image wasn't video-card-packaging bad anyway.)

Much respect to Nadya at Coilhouse.

Snakes On A Plane: Logical Flaw Surfaces

2008-04-24T06:23:00.013-07:00

I'm sick of these motorboating snakes on this motorboating plane!

What? I watched it on TBS. Thanks to the 35 people who have sent this to me over the last three weeks.

Groundhog Day: "Special" Is The Operative Word

2008-04-24T06:23:00.012-07:00

Tkklhth: Look! Another human artefact!
Rgdgdg: It appears to be a wrapper for an optical disc.
Tkklhth: What can it tell us about this culture?
Rgdgdg: That they were often deformed, with their faces a bit too small for their heads?
Tkklhth: Or perhaps they were crap at Photoshop.

Embiggen. Props to Antony.

Rambo 4: Stallone 0

2008-04-24T06:23:00.011-07:00

If you've ever wondered what Pablo Picasso would have done had he had a copy of Photoshop, look no further.

Embiggen here, kind regards to Eric.

Nipplegate: Only In Florida

2008-04-24T06:23:00.010-07:00

Thanks to JR for this link on the Florida WWE nipplegate drama. Apparently Florida law prohibits pictures of nipples in public, with the law possibly being taken too literally in this case.

The big winner in blog coverage was sociological images, a ~~clever parody of 1970s feminist windbaggery~~ serious academic explanation of why deleting or showing nipples is either bad or good.

Daily Fail: Violent Vids Upsetting Our Drug-Crazed Designers

2008-04-24T06:23:00.009-07:00

My inbox is now buried with submissions of this latest triumph for the Daily Mail and their war on reality. Original is here. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

The Accidental Husband (part 1)

2008-04-24T06:23:00.008-07:00

Suspension of disbelief is the willingness of an audience to invest emotional resources in a story that they know to be false. The main belief to be suspended here is that the designers cared about their work.

It would help if you actually looked at the person you were half-heartedly pretending to catch.
Monty Python feet.
That's a remarkably serene expression, Mr Head Paste.
Chrysler building has inexplicably moved to Chelsea. It doesn't even line up with the street grid.
We'll let this one go, as it is entirely possible that Colin Firth really does have giant hands.
The.
Worst.
Cutout.
Ever.

Thanks to everyone who sent this one in, and yes, I know the other poster is even worse. Stay tuned. Full size here.

Canon: Can't

2008-04-24T06:23:00.007-07:00

Quality is just a touch on Command Q away.

Original here. Thanks to Manuel!

Kimora Lee: The Photoshop Of Dorian Gray

2008-04-24T06:23:00.006-07:00

As Jezebel points out, So. Much. PhotoShop.

Tip of the hat to Holly B!

Apple: Huge Goof, Jobs, Entire Board To Resign

2008-04-24T06:23:00.005-07:00

The reflection clearly* reads Macy Gray.

Thanks to Luciano in Brazil. Original here.
* for low values of 'clearly'

Update: someone at Apple reads photoshopdisasters!

Daily Mail: Don't Do The Brown Acid

2008-04-24T06:23:00.004-07:00

Layering mistake? Head injury? Malice? The Daily Mail's rugby coverage takes a psychotropic turn.

Thanks to Nino, original is here.

Scrubs: We Feel Your Pain

2008-04-24T06:23:00.003-07:00

Touchstone Pictures is a major unit of The Walt Disney Company, the third largest media organization in the world with revenues exceeding $60 billion.

Evidently very little of that filters down to the Art department, who seem to have assembled this cover largely using the lasso and gradient tools. Do you think those doors would actually meet when they close?

Thanks to Colleen and everyone else who sent this in. Bigger source image is here.

Readers Digest: Maybe It's A VampirePhone

2008-04-24T06:23:00.002-07:00

The missing tail in the reflection could be put down to artistic license, but those icons are fair game.

Discussion at Woot! Thanks to Mathew for the tip.

SEAT: Logic Is An Optional Extra

2008-04-24T06:23:00.001-07:00

The thrust of this SEAT ad is that it is for design-conscious families. This family doesn't want the regular baby incubator. Oh no. They want something more Philippe Starck. A chap in a white coat dejectedly takes away the rejected incubator.

Which is apparently lighter than air. (Gallic shrug.)

Props to Gaduman. Bigger pics here.

Shimano: Righty Tighty Lefty Loosey

2008-04-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

The curious thing about this one is that the reflection isn't a simple copy-and-flip. The perspective is a little different, suggesting a different shot was used. Someone actually made an effort before goofing and rotating the image instead of flipping it.

Thanks to Idenwen.

Amazon: Hard To Swallow

2008-04-24T06:16:00.029-07:00

Clearly he's lying on the armrest. Lame.
This blog used to be great but now it sucks.
I don't get it. What's wrong with it?

I love you all, really. Especially Meghan, who sent this one. Original is here.

300: Comp Like A Spartan!

2008-04-24T06:16:00.028-07:00

Looks fine, provided you close your eyes and imagine Leonidas actually holding a sword, rather than just being comped near a sword.

Thanks to Leo!

Mr Potatohead: Angelina Jolie Version

2008-04-24T06:16:00.027-07:00

Someone at Public (a French trashtacular) decided that Angelina needed waking up. Because, otherwise, you know, she'd look weird.

Merci beaucoup to Lizuka.

INFDaily: Photo Editor's Pants On Fire

2008-04-24T06:16:00.026-07:00

If you're going to run a story on how celebs sometimes get sweaty armpits, it's probably not a good idea to goof up faking the images. Three-armed Beyonce is not amused.

Thanks to Just Katie, original is here.

Zoo: Adolf Hitler Is A Babe And She's Melting

2008-04-24T06:16:00.025-07:00

Gemma Atkinson gets some rough treatment from this tawdry babeblog. It looks like her right hand is a flip of the left, or would have been if the artist hadn't quietly given up. I have no idea what they were trying to remove, but the unfortunate shadow under her nose suggests a whiff of the third reich.

All in all, probably not the best combination for titillation. Thanks to Mr Price for the tip. Original here [marginally NSFW].

Renault: This Internet Sure Is Shiny

2008-04-24T06:16:00.024-07:00

When the Web 2.0 "shiny table" has filtered down to car ads, you know it's over. Perspective? Pah!

Thanks to Julius in Germany!

Chanel: Maybe Someone Shook Her Hand Too Hard

2008-04-24T06:16:00.023-07:00

Keira darling, that's great.. lovely... let the camera in darling... that's great... Keira sweety can you make it look as though your fingers have fallen off and are in an anatomically impossible position? Yes, exactly like that, that's perfect, super darling, OK everyone that's a wrap.

AdRants has a bigger version here. Thanks to Michael.

Yahoo: Didn't They Do This On South Park?

2008-04-24T06:16:00.022-07:00

That's not a disaster, I can do that with my head right now.

Original is here. Thanks to ajb!

Yahoo: Cars And Reflections Don't Mix

2008-04-24T06:16:00.021-07:00

You know how when you see pictures of people in the 70s or 80s you wonder why they had such awful clothes and haircuts? That's how people in 2020 are going to see this decade. It's the decade of inept reflections.

Original here. Thanks to Tephlon!

Cuisinart: M.C. Escher Strikes Again

2008-04-24T06:16:00.020-07:00

Cusinart defies perspective in this disturbing composition. If you're wondering if it was the woman, the table or the blender that was comped in, the answer is probably all three.

Thanks to Sylvain.

Sony: Vampire TV

2008-04-24T06:16:00.019-07:00

Ironically the TV itself is showing an image of reflections. It's like something by M.C. Escher.

Thanks to HDTVLounge and Tr@mb for spilling the beans.

J C Penney: Jaw-dropping

2008-04-24T06:16:00.018-07:00

Why do I get the feeling she's about to devour her
friend?

Thanks to Kris.

Time: More God-damned Reflections

2008-04-24T06:16:00.017-07:00

Position: Art Director, Time Magazine
Location: New York
Salary: $225,000, excellent incentives
Requirements: Must have an excellent eye for detail.

Thanks to Kosmonaut!

T-Mobile: Lets Go To Ecinev!

2008-04-24T06:16:00.016-07:00

T-Mobile in Germany thinks laterally in this piece of phone packaging.

Thanks to Jens Kloepfel!

Burger King: Fingers The Unfingerable

2008-04-24T06:16:00.015-07:00

Well, guv, yeah, we ave ta shoot the burgers separate, innit. It's a longstanding tradition! Burger has to look perfect, dunnit! We'll jus' comp the burgers into the hands and bobs yer uncle. Easy peasy. No trouble.

Thanks to Leon; embiggen here.

Please Excuse Our Appearance As We Redecorate

2008-04-24T06:16:00.014-07:00

As you know, whenever a blog "jumps the shark" it is necessary to do a redesign. Please excuse any unsightliness as I fumble about with the templates. On the plus side, the new layout will allow larger images.

Accidental Husband Part 2

2008-04-24T06:16:00.013-07:00

a: Winner of the coveted "Least Convincing Photoshop Head Transplant Ever."
b: Oh come on.
c: Someone forgot to finish cutting out the flowers.

Thanks to Andy and the dozens of people who sent this in.

Company: No Freaking Way

2008-04-24T06:16:00.012-07:00

When people Photoshop heads onto bodies they really need to look for little details that might give away the artifice, such as mismatching shadows, different lighting, or differences in sharpness. You know, those subtle, tiny differences that people might notice.

Thanks to Melanie!

Ades: Soft Drinks Hate Anatomy

2008-04-24T06:16:00.011-07:00

Each time you look at it, that hand gets more disturbing.

Thanks to Romina.

Vogue: When Good Work Goes Bad

2008-04-24T06:16:00.010-07:00

Steven Klein's photoshopper goes overboard with Gwyneth Paltrow in the new Vogue. Not only does her head look detached, she gets a Stepford Wives makeover.

Go Fug Yourself has a poll on how awful it is, while Stylefrizz weighs in on the heavy-handedness. Thanks to Andrew and Jill for sending this one.

Manor: Don't Look Now Darling, But We're Having An Earthquake

2008-04-24T06:16:00.009-07:00

Either the location overlooked a Walmart parking lot and the designer comped in a cool skyline without worrying too much about matching the perspective, or the building is falling over.

Found here [warning: annoying Flash site], thanks to Ben!

93X: Impossible Babe Of The Day

2008-04-24T06:16:00.008-07:00

Dingo: You're listening to Dingo And The Baby on 93X in Minneapolis
SFX: Dingo And The Baby!
Dingo: Yeah!
SFX: Ninety three X!
The Baby: Heyy!
Dingo: Heyyy!
SFX: In the after-noooon!
Dingo: Yeah!
SFX: On the ra-dio!
The Baby: Hey you know what would be funny? You know what would be really funny? If we could put the worst possible piece of photoshopping on our "hot babes" site and then get picked up by that photoshopdisasters site?
SFX: (fart noise)
Dingo: Alllllrigghhhhht! Let's do it!
(continues forever)

Original here [marginally NSFW]. Thanks to Kristen.

Irish Independent: That Must Be Some Distinctive Nose

2008-04-24T06:16:00.007-07:00

It's hard to describe the fractal-like layers of wrongness that make this post.

Original is here. Props to Elana.

Spirit: Eva Mendes Is Strangely Deformed

2008-04-24T06:16:00.006-07:00

So the story is about how The Spirit fights this one-legged woman who has the power to make her arm look like some kind of flipper. Sounds great.

Props to Megan.

Ford: Putting Composition Last

2008-04-24T06:16:00.005-07:00

Hi! I'm AD at whatever advertising agency Ford has in Ireland. I used to think composition and perspective didn't matter. You kids might think it's cool, but it isn't! You can't just smush images together, or you'll end up like me, appearing on photoshopdisasters. Is that cool? Stay straight kids, don't end up like me.

Thanks to Nersh.

Capcom: The Great Okami Watermark Fiasco

2008-04-24T06:16:00.004-07:00

Usually when a watermark crops up in an image it's because someone wouldn't pay for the material. In Capcom's case, they had the rights to the artwork, shown here:

but inexplicably used stuff that carried IGN's watermark. Confusion, calamity and catastrophe follow. Kotaku has the most coherent coverage.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in (Roto13 was the first.)

Daily Fail: Do They Not Have A Crop Tool?

2008-04-24T06:16:00.003-07:00

To: Artroom
From: jfryer@dailyfail.co.uk
Subject: Please comp me into this picture LOL!
-----------------------------------------
Can you make it look as though I actually left the office to write this story LOL! ? Please make sure it doesn't look like it is a comp, no telltale clues or anything LOL! Thanks a million! LOL!

Thanks to Papple, original here.

Narnia: Prince Caspian Is A Cylon!

2008-04-24T06:16:00.002-07:00

When you're adapting your artwork to go on the side of a bus, it probably pays to take a look at the mechanical supplied.

Full story is here. Thanks to Doctor Popular!

Capcom: Good For Hitchhiking

2008-04-24T06:16:00.001-07:00

Capcom keeps them coming with this masterpiece of baroque anatomy. Unbelievably enough, this is illustration, not a rendering error in a game. 1up has a nice story, original is here.

Thanks to Hug0 and everyone who sent this in!

Good Luck Chuck: Jessica Alba Is Constipated

2008-04-24T06:16:00.000-07:00

Aside from the inappropriate appropriation of the John Lennon/Yoko Ono pose, this Good Luck Chuck poster is one of those beautiful images that reminds you that not everything can be solved by pasting heads on bodies.

If you can't see the awfulness, ask yourself if Jessica Alba looks as though she is even in the same room as Dane Cook.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in; bigger version is here.

Using layers to speed things up

2008-04-04T11:53:00.003-07:00

Here's an older technique that still works well. A question came in about working some scans of photos from an old case file. The negatives had long since been lost, but the prints were still in the file and needed to be scanned and cleaned up. The agency hasn't upgraded to a CS version of Photoshop. What to do?

Try this. After scanning the prints, correct the first one using the Forensic Photoshop workflow. In this case, I've used a Curves adjustment to correct for the colour drift in the print and an Exposure adjustment to help the shoe print really stand out. Then, I created a Group from the adjustments.

The final step in the process is easy. Just drag the group's folder on to the uncorrected image. The adjustments will automatically apply to the second (uncorrected) image. Fix the first ... then fix them all.

When faced with a seemingly difficult task like fixing a bunch old prints, Photoshop can make light work of it all in just a few simple steps.

Enjoy.

Interpolate vs Smart Object Resize

2008-04-04T11:53:00.002-07:00

An interesting question came in about resizing images for court display.

Often times, we get small images that need to be displayed on large poster boards in courtrooms. What to do? I have used a rather involved process in the past that employs Photoshop, Acrobat, a flatbed scanner, a Fiery RIP, and a large format printer. It's rather complicated and time consuming but yields good results - if you have all of those pieces. But what if you don't?

Try this:

Create a New Document in Photoshop at the final output size and resolution (e.g. 18"x24" @ 240 dpi). This will just be a blank page at first.
Make sure that Bridge/Photoshop chooses ACR to handle your jpeg/tiff files and that they open as Smart Objects.
Choose File>Place and select your image.
Follow the prompts through until your image is placed in the new Photoshop document. It will be in a box with an X through it. You'll notice that the new layer has the Smart Object icon.
Hold the Shift key down and drag the corner of the box to fill the new document area with your image. The Shift key locks in the aspect as you resize.
Your image resizes without any additional blurring.

Because the Smart Object references the original file, the original remains intact and safely locked away. The Smart Object is just a representation of the original and thus gets resized - up, down, and up again - without any damage to the original - unlike standard interpolation techniques.

Try this one for yourself and see what fun you can have with your images.

Enjoy.

O2M - Product Review

2008-04-04T11:53:00.001-07:00

I wanted to get years of saved mail from Outlook for Windows into my new Mac. I searched Google for tips. I found that very few apps could import a PST file from Outlook. Even Entourage, Microsoft's own product, will not migrate Windows mail.

Sure, I could use Thunderbird or SeaMonkey. I tried them both, but I didn't like how they worked. I like the new .Mac/Apple Mail. So, how do I get my PST file into Apple Mail? The answer came from an anonymous comment (my thanks to you just the same).

O2M, a product from Little Machines, claims to be the fastest product out there for transferring all things Outlook into your Mac. Until the comment, I'd never heard of them. A search on Google for the topic didn't return their site in the first few pages. How good can the product be if no one's heard of it?

Outstanding! That's how good it is. I downloaded the trial as a test. I was able to convert a folder and some contacts into the standard MBox format. From there, I could import the MBox file into Apple Mail. it worked so well that I bought the license - and it only costs US$10.00.

I've got over 5000 saved messages in a PST file that's almost 1GB in size. O2M took about 30 minutes to save it all in the MBox format. Then, I just imported those files into my Apple Mail program. With .Mac, I could move some of the files into my on-line folders. Who would have thought it could be so easy?

If you are moving to Mac from PC and have to get your mail out of Outlook, give O2M a try. I think that, like me, you'll love it.

Enjoy.

Adobe Photoshop Express

2008-04-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

I got a note asking about the new Adobe Photoshop Express beta that's available (click here to check it out).

It seems to me to be like an on-line, flash driven version of Elements. With that in mind, and the fact that it's free to try, would likely make it attractive to some users. But, with everything that's free ... check the fine print.

Here's Section 8 of the Terms and Conditions:

8. Use of Your Content.

1. Adobe does not claim ownership of Your Content. However, with respect to Your Content that you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of the Services, you grant Adobe a worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable license to use, distribute, derive revenue or other remuneration from, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such Content (in whole or in part) and to incorporate such Content into other Materials or works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

2. “Publicly accessible” areas of the Services are those areas of the Adobe network of properties that are intended by Adobe to be available to the general public. However, publicly accessible areas of the Services do not include Services intended for private communication or areas off the Adobe network of properties such as portions of World Wide Web sites that are accessible via hypertext or other links but are not hosted or served by Adobe.

In other words, you might not want to use this service for case work.

Other than that issue, check it out with your private stuff. Another tool is another tool.

Enjoy.

Creating a realistic flare (or Solar Flare)

2008-04-04T11:20:00.006-07:00

Level: Intermediate (useful for advanced users)

Description:

This is a tutorial on creating a realistic lens flare. I have noticed lens flares being used in many designs especially in the recent years. I have figured out how to do one myself. I am not sure if this is the technique that has been used -- but I have found it to work quite well for creating this effect. You can use this tutorial for any kind of flare, solar flare or light explosion.

You can use this tutorial to create many kinds of flares or light effects -- all you have to do is start out with a different white object (As gone over later).

Photoshop Version: CS2 (Can apply to Earlier versions up to Photoshop 7 or versions of Photoshop with Redial Blur)

Tutorial:

The first step is to create a new Photoshop document with a black background. It should be 5 inches by 5 inches at 300 dpi or a dpi that suits your needs.

Next, create guides that show the center of the image. For an image that is 5 inches by 5 inches put a horizontal guide at 2.5 inches and then a vertical guide at 2.5 inches.

Next, create a new layer and using the eliptical marquee tool create a white circle in the center of the document as shown here.

For different flare effects you can make different shapes at this step.

Click on the layer with the circle you created and click the "Lock Transparent pixels" button which will allow edits only on the filled part of the layer.

The next step is to go to [Filter->Noise->Add Noise] and set the settings as shown here. (Amount: 400, Distribution: Gaussian, Monochromatic: selected)

Next, click the "Lock transparent pixels" button again to unlock the layers transparent pixels.

Next go to [Filter->Blur->Radial Blur] and enter the settings as shown here. If your computer does not have a lot of RAM or is very slow -- choose the "Good" option under "Quality".

Next apply radial blur 10 more times by pressing [Control/Command + "F"] or by going to [Filter->Blur->Radial Blur] and applying the filter that many times.

You will start to get the looks of a flare here. After this there are still a few steps to get to the finish. Any steps from here can be altered to create your own style or color of flare.

Next, create a new layer and create a small circle of white using the elliptical marquee tool.

Then use [Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur] and use the settings as shown here. This is what creates the bright light in the center of the flare.

Next, select the top layer and then at the bottom of the layers palette there is a button called "Create new fill or adjustment layer". click this and then click "Hue/Saturation".

This will add a new adjustment layer which will allow you to adjust the color of the flare without permanently affecting it.

Apply the settings as shown here (Hue: 211, Saturation: 52, Lightness: 0).

You can play with the settings to get a desired flare color or brightness.

The final file will look like this.

For the expert: You can put this flare into other images by deleting the background layer and doing a "Merge Visible Layers" which give give you an object to move to different photos.

I suggest you try different shapes at the beginning or try doing this effect with text.

I hope this tutorial is useful. Comment below if it is or if you need help.

Preventing printer anomalies and banding

2008-04-04T11:20:00.005-07:00

Level: Intermediate (useful for advanced users)

Description:

This is a tutorial on how to minimize printing anomalies like banding and odd color variations. Incidentaly, this tutorial covers some photo correction technique which can be very usefull for adding detail back to images.

Photoshop Version: CS2 (Can apply to Earlier versions up to Photoshop 7)

Tutorial:

I have come upon a technique for reducing printer anomalies (Banding, color patches and ghosting) that is really quite simple.

When I say "banding" I mean where you visibly see color changes in a gradient or image as you can see here:

When I say "ghosting" I mean areas of light color around dark color areas which shows up when printing but not on screen. An example is shown here:

The main technique is to add enough noise. Adding noise to a gradient will reduce printer banding. This is also true for areas of solid color -- adding a bit of noise can make the color print very even.

When it comes to photos, this technique can be used to give the appearance of detail. I use this after I have resized and color corrected a photo. It is amazing how effective it is in making the print a much nicer print.

Realize when I am talking about printing here, I am specifically referring to large format printers. The technique can be used successfully with other printers as well.

When you add noise, you want to add just enough to where it is just past visible. I will show you some examples here:

Noise added to a gradient:

Noise added to a patch of color:

Noise added to an image:

Additionally you can reduce ghosting by adding noise. Ghosting is where you can see lighter areas around dark patches. An example of adding noise to an image that might ghost when printed is here:

Experiment with your printer and different noise settings to see what comes out the best.

I have found this technique to be very helpful on my job as a designer. Hopefully this tutorial will help you as well.

Photoshop Tutorial: Quality Image Cutouts

2008-04-04T11:20:00.004-07:00

Level: Intermediate (useful for advanced users)

Description:

Have you ever tried to cut an image out of it's background using Photoshop only to be dissapointed in the fact that it does no look good in its new background?

Here I go over 3 simple steps to make your cutout more realistic. This lesson was created for lower level users as well as advanced users. The technique used here to make the first selection is only used to keep the learning gradient easy. Advanced users would replace the selection steps shown below with what they know of with regard to making a selection.

Photoshop Version: CS2 (Can apply to Earlier versions up to Photoshop 7)

How to:

First select the polygonal lasso tool. Click and drag around the outside of the image you want to cutout.

Next use the lasso tool to cutout the inside parts of the image. You do this by holding [Alt/Option] and click with the lasso, then continue until you have covered the part you want to cutout. For this image you will need to cutout 2 places -- the hole for the top ring and the hole for the bottom ring.

Next go to [Select->Modify->Smooth] and enter in a radius of 2 pixels. The radius is how much to smooth the selection. If the selection you made earlier is very jagged you might want to experiment with higher radius levels to smooth out the selection.

Next go to [Select->Feather] and enter in a radius of 1. This will blur the edges of the selection a bit and give it a more real look.

Next go to [Select->Modify->Contract] and enter in an amount of one pixel. This makes the selection a little tighter which also helps in making a nice cutout.

After you have done these steps, just copy and paste the part of the image you have now cutout.

The final image cutout looks like this:
Note: The grid you see in the back is used to denote transparency (Or Seethroughness) in Photoshop.

Mastering the Photoshop Toolbox

2008-04-04T11:20:00.003-07:00

Mastering the Photoshop Toolbox

Level: Intermediate

Description:

Master the Photoshop toolbox. Begin by knowing the basics.

I am writing this tutorial to try to provide an easy way to get familiar with the Photoshop toolbox without overwhelming you with technobable.

Photoshop Version: CS2 (Can apply to Earlier versions up to Photoshop 7)

How to:

This is a multi-part tutorial on the Photoshop toolbox. I was trying to think of what the most important thing to know in Photoshop and, I didn't really come up with anything, but it made me think of the toolbox as the solid base for learning photoshop for real.

There are those that say they "know photoshop" but are they pro, can they move really fast and do what they want to do? Well, learning the toolbox is a great start to becoming a Photoshop speed demon.

First of all is: What is the toolbox? The toolbox is the window that contains the buttons that control what your mouse does, it also contains the buttons most used when working in photoshop.

I will now list and show each tool from the Photoshop toolbox and what they do. Then I will tell you how to master the toolbox. Note: the toolbox shown is Photoshop CS 2. But learning it will be very helpful, this would be true from Photoshop 7 and up.

NOTE: If you only see the first part of the toolbox tutorial, do not worry, I am working hard at adding more each day. There is a lot to cover.

I am sure you never thought this was part of the toolbox, clicking on the feather will take you to the photoshop website.

This is the Marquee tool. The tool consists of a number of different ways of making selections. By selection I mean where you can select a part of an image and do something with it, like a filter, a color adjustment, etc,.

You will notice there are 4 different types of Marquee tool. The first is the Rectangular Marquee Tool. This allows you to make rectangular selections. The same follows with the Elliptical Marquee Tool, it selects a circular area. The way you use this tool is click and hold down the mouse and drag. There is a lot more to cover about selections. I will write a tutorial on this at some time later.

This is the Move Tool, this is the tool you use to move objects around in Photoshop. It is the most commonly used tool. Use it by clicking and dragging items on the canvas.

This is the Lasso tool. There are 3 different types of Lasso Tool. The regular Lasso Tool allows you to make a selection by dragging and drawing a shape with the mouse. The polygonal Lasso Tool allows you to click and then move your mouse and then click again at a different point, which you can do to create any kind of polygonal shape (a closed object with straight sides). The Magnetic Lasso Tool is special, you start out by clicking it once and then drag your mouse in any direction, the Magnetic Lasso Tool will follow the edges of an image (Where to different colors are contrasted) without you having to do anything.

This is the Magic Wand. Sounds cool, well, it sort of is. The magic wand allows you to click in different areas of an image and select related colors to where you clicked. For example if you had an image of a person against a white background, you could click the white background and it would select the area around the person.

This is the crop tool. This tool allows you to crop or cut the image to a different size. You can also use it to make the image larger. Click and drag the mouse to select a crop area. You can adjust it by dragging the handles (The little square boxes on the corners and sides that allow you to change its size).

This is the slice tool. You use it for creating slices. Sounds repetetive unless you know what a slice is. A slice is a piece of an image. You would use this tool when you want to save the image as different pieces. It is normally used when designing we pages.

To use the slice tool all you have to do is drag around an area of the canvas. The area you drag around is now a slice. You can later export these slices as individual images.

The slice select tool allows you to edit existing slices, to use this tool you just click on the slice and resize it by dragging the handles that show up.

These are the healing tools. The first one is called the "Spot Healing Brush Tool" it allows you to clean up imperfections or blemishes in an area of color. Let's say you have a person and they have a red spot on their face or a zit, then you could click on the zit with the spot healing brush and make it disappear. Make sure that the brush is somewhat larger than the blemish its self.

The healing brush tool is the same as the spot healing brush tool in that it allows you to clean up a blemish or an imperfection, the only difference is that you have to select an area of the image you want it to use to replace the blemish. For example if you wanted to remove a spot on a car, you would go to an area of the car that is nice and "alt/option+click" the area, you could then click on the blemish and it should disappear.

The patch tool allows you to cover up larger parts of the image than the healing brushes. This is one of my favorite tools when it comes to taking something out of an image or removing some area of an image. All you have to do is to make a selection with any selection tool -- or the patch tool (You would select the area you want to be replaced), then you would select the patch tool and drag the selection to a part of the image you would want to use to replace the old part of the image. When you let go, the area that was selected will be blended with the area you dragged the selection to. If you are cloning out a large part of an image, you don't want to just use this tool. I will be writing a tutorial on cloning out images.

The red eye tool is for removing red eye. Too small functionality for a whole Photoshop tool. But here is how you use it: You just click it on the part of the eye that is red and the red eye will be handled, if you need to you might need to adjust the pupil size to get best results.

These are the painting tools -- so to say, they allow you to add color to an image like you are using a brush or a pencil.

The Brush tool has been in Photoshop for a long time. You use it by dragging it across the image. Do not underestimate the power of this tool. Some artists use this tool only to create stunning images. I will be writing a further tutorial on using brushes in Photoshop.

The pencil tool is for drawing lines. It is mainly used for drawing rough lines, as apposed to the brush which draws smooth edges.

The color replacement tool is a very useful tool for image correction. You use it like a regular brush, but it allows you to change the colors of the area you are painting. There are many settings for this tool which allow you to efficiently change the color of a specific part of an image without ruing the image itself.

These are the clone tools. Hailed as the best tool for removing parts of an image. This is not the case, these tools are best used in conjunction with the patch tool to create realistic effects from artificially removed parts of an image.

The clone stamp tool allows you to take a part of an image and paint it into a different part. Hold down Alt/Option and click on the area of the image you want to use to paint with. Then start painting in the area you want to remove. By selecting "aligned" in the tool settings bar allows your set part of the image to copy from change as you paint. I will also be writing a tutorial on this as this is a special tool.

The pattern stamp tool allows you to paint an image by using a pattern. You just select a pattern to use and start painting.

These are the history brush tools, they allow you to paint back to some time in the images history. These tools can be very useful at times.

To use the history brush tool select the part of the history you want to paint back to. (You do this by clicking the history brush icon to the left of the history state) and then start painting, the same image from history will be painted from the point that is selected.

The art history brush does the same thing as the history brush except, you can set paint like options, so that when you paint back the history, it looks like it was painted -- or whatever visual effect you choose.

These are the eraser tools, they allow you to remove parts of an image. The most useful tool out of these is the regular eraser.

To use the eraser tool, just select a brush and start dragging around the are of the image to want to be erased.

The Background Eraser tool allows you to erase an area of color that is in the middle of the brush area without erasing parts that are not similar to the color in the middle of the brush. This may be confusing, here is an example: You have a soccer ball on grass and you want to cut the soccer ball out with the background eraser tool. So, you take the background eraser and start to drag around the edges of the ball, ensuring that the center of the brush is in the green grass part. This will erase the grass and leave the soccer ball untouched.

The magic eraser tool is like the magic wand, but instead of creating a selection, it erases. Get familiar with the magic wand and this tool will make sense. As a note, I find it to be a bad tool for quality cutouts.

These are fill tools. Used for filling areas of an image with color.

The gradient tool allows you to drag over an area of an image and create a gradient. You use the gradient maker tool to create the gradient and then you click and drag on the image to create the gradient.

The Paint Bucket Tool is like the magic wand, but instead of selecting the image, it paints the image (Adds color)

OK, I am a busy man, but I will continue to add more to this tutorial. Someone told me they were reading it and they like it a lot. Feel free to write any comments. If you feel something is hard to understand or needs more clarification, comment here and I will try and fix it. More coming soon.

- Zach

Photoshop Trick: Creating a glass button

2008-04-04T11:20:00.002-07:00

Level: Intermediate

Description: Make a glass looking button. This is a similar style to the Windows Vista Task bar.

Photoshop Version: CS2 (Can be done in Earlier versions up to Photoshop CS)

How to:

First create a blank photoshop document using these settings: Width: 4 inches, Height: 1 inch, DPI: 300.

Select the rounded rectangle tool as shown here:

Draw a rounded rectangle in a similar fashion to this. I used a Corner Radius of .125 in. You can change the radius as you like. More radius makes the corner more rounded, less radius makes the corner sharper.

Change the foreground color to white and draw another rounded rectangle as you see here. You can change the radius for this as well. To make a more glossy look, decrease the radius, to make a duller shine, increase the radius. You can make many different variations of glass buttons using this technique. There are many other techniques as well for creating glass buttons. This is one of them.

Next, change the opacity of the white rectangle you just made to 17 percent. You can adjust the percentage as you would like. The higher the percent the more you give the feeling of a strong light pointing at the button, the less the percent, it gives the appearance of a dull light.

Next, select the Elliptical Marquee Tool.

Using the Elliptical Marquee tool, make a shape similar to this and fill it with a color you desire. Experiment with different colors, to get different effects.

Next, go to [Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur] and use the settings shown here. You can adjust them as you like.

Next with the blue layer selected press "Command T" or go to [Edit->Free Tranform] and while holding "Alt/Option" drag until the tranform bounding box reaches the edges of the button.

Next, while holding command click on the black rectangle layer. This will select the black rounded rectangle. Then select the blue layer. Once you have done this press "Command + Shift + i" or go to [Select->Inverse]. This will reverse the selection, so it is now selecting the opposite to what was selected before.

Press "Delete" or go to [Edit->Clear].

Your glass button is now complete.

You can also try putting a very transparent image above the black and below the blue. This gives a reflection effect which is really quite innovative.

Here you can see the final button:

Photoshop Trick: Steel Text (With Brushed Metal Look)

2008-04-04T11:20:00.001-07:00

Level: Intermediate

Description: Make Steel Looking text. Also learn how to make the brushed steel texture. Once you know this you can add your own modifications and create your own steel look. There are millions of ways of making the steel text look. This is one way.

Photoshop Version: CS2 (Can be done in Earlier versions up to Photoshop 7.0)

Definitions:

DPI: Dots Per Inch. This means how many pixels there are per inch of space.

How to:

First create a new image with a black background. Create it 5 Inches Wide by 1 1/2 Inches tall at 300 dpi, or a dpi you desire.

Next, with your choice of font, create a white text saying whatever you would like to put there. I used Steel as the text and Franklin Gothic as the font. Some other good fonts for this are Bank Gothic and Copperplate Gothic.

Press "Ctrl j" while selected on the text layer. This will make a copy of the layer.

Next, rasterize the text layer by selecting it and going to [Layer -> Raterize -> Type ]

Next click on the rasterized type layer and click the lock transparent pixels button. This will loc the transparent pixels, so that anything you do to this layer wont affect the already transparent pixels.

Next thing you do is go to [Filer -> Noise -> Add Noise]

Apply the settings as seen here. If you want more streaks up the amount. If you want mutli-color streaks unclick "Monochromatic" which means one color only.

Next, go to [Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur]

Apply the settings here, or change them as you desire. The main one you might want to adjust is distance. This is how much it applies the motion blur.

Now Select the gradient tool. Go to the gradient editor and select the "foreground to transparent" gradient. Click ok. Make sure your foreground is black. Then drag you gradient from bottom-right up to the top-left and top-left to the bottom-right. Here you can see what we are going for:

Next double click on the rasterized text layer to open the layer styles window. Check the box named satin and set the settings shown here or a variation if you like.

This completes the tutorial. Here is the outcome:

Photoshop Tip: Making an image look cooler

2008-04-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

Level: Intermediate

Description: Make an image cooler, meaning make the overall cast of an image, a bluish color. This can be used to make images look more cutting edge, or even making them look more cold.

Photoshop Version: CS2

How to:

First you would open the image you would like to adjust. Here we open an image of a Lexus car.

Next, go to [Image -> Adjustments -> Photo Filter]. This will open the Photo Filter window.

Set the settings as shown here, you can test with different shades of blue or cyan. Here we used a cyanish blue. The density here is set pretty high. Density determines how much the color is applied. If you keep "preview" checked you will be able to see the outcome of the image. Notice the image has a cooler look.

The photo filter can be used in many ways and is a great image adjuster. I use it a lot to give photos the right feeling. You can use any color you want, it depends on what feel you want the photo to have. For example, if you are doing a design that is orangish and you put a photo into it, but the photo sticks out too much, you can apply an orangish photo filter to bring it into better color harmony.

The good thing about the photo filter is that it keeps the rest of the photo details in tact and keeps the rest of the colors there. Before they had this adjustment I would try to use Hue/Saturation, which would ruin the image details and it wouldn't give a general cast, it would just apply a color over the whole image. The photo filter is good, because it only changes the colors for certain parts of the photo, but keeps the general color composition the same for the rest of the photo.