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‘Adobe Photoshop, or simply Photoshop, is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems. It is the current and primary market leader for commercial bitmap and image manipulation, and is the flagship product of Adobe Systems. It has been described as “an industry standard for graphics professionals”[1] and was one of the early “killer applications” on the Macintosh’

This was the first tutorial I ever did!
I created it originally for another site, so sorry for any irregular references.

Hey guys, this is a tutorial for pen tooling, present on my current signature. I hope you enjoy this and would love to see some results Pen tooling is a great tool in any graphic artist’s arsenal.

This should be done on a new layer, for every line you do
Generally you should use relevant colours to the piece, if you can add a white or black with it. I will use blue just so you can see clearly what I’m doing.

Step 1:
Set your brush tool to a hard brush, 3-12 pixels depending on the thickness of the line you are aiming for.

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Step 2:
Make sure you’re using the ‘paths’ version of the pen tool. (top left corner)
Select the pen tool and click twice, forming a ‘straight line’, as shown.

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Step 3:
Click and hold the line anywhere you like, you’ll see you can now bend the line around. Do this until you have something you like (not on the same click and hold)

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For the full tutorial, visit this page; http://signatureshelf.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=11

Adobe software is some of the best in its class and every year it continues to improve the previous versions in functionality and ease of use. At first, Adobe became known for a series of individual products, such as Photoshop and Acrobat, however they’ve also got an entire line of design software, which is also called “Creative Suite,” and contains a whole host of useful products. The latest version of the software is Adobe CS4 and contains the following:

Adobe Photoshop, which is a very popular graphics editor.
Adobe Illustrator, which is a vector style graphics editor.
Adobe InDesign, which is a web-design product.
Adobe Acrobat, which creates and manages PDF files.
Adobe Flash, which is the software you can thank for various movie style web pages and scenes and can turn any web page into a dynamic browsing experience.
Adobe Dreamweaver, which is an html based web page manager and html editor. Dreamweaver has been around for quite some time and is a very advanced product when compared to others in its class.
Adobe Fireworks, which is a bitmap and vector based graphic design editor, mostly used for creating and modifying web based images and designs.
A mix of 10 other programs ranging from audio editors, advanced management systems, and other organizational style software programs.

Adobe CS4 is a comprehensive software suite that is capable of turning your PC or laptop into a product creation machine. You can literally do anything in the realm of graphics or web design using these tools, and if you learn how to use them properly you can create a skill set that is sought after across the industry.

There are approximately 4 editions to the software, which range in price and value. There is an edition for web focused businesses or individuals, one for design, one for production, and one that contains every piece of software in the suite.

As you can imagine, the price of this package is somewhat expensive, as many of the programs are several hundred dollars individually. The bottom line price is $999 retail and the most expensive package is well over $2,000. Obviously, unless you have a use for all of these products, you might be better off buying them individually. However, if you use more than a few, you should consider buying the base package at a minimum.

Adobe CS4 is the best in its class and contains more than you’ll ever need to create graphics, web pages, flash movies, and PDF files. There is so much that you can do with the software that I’d have a hard time fitting it all within this post, but I would strongly consider taking a look at the individual product pages to learn more. Adobe CS4 might be expensive, but it is well worth it when you consider the power it gives you to create and produce great products. There is a reason that the professionals use it, so I would definitely give this software a 2nd look.

Dozens of people want to know more about how to edit images, the easiest way is to use Adobe Photoshop. Thought it may seem complicated at first with the entire 10 hour video help book adobe provides, you can learn it under 2 hours. From tools like using the layers to setting Photoshop’s undo button for easier use, Adobe is full of wonderful surprises that will impress your family and friends. This article will cover how to use 2 selection tools.

The first selection tool is called the lasso tool. It is used to select irregular areas in a photo. There are three parts to the lasso tool, they are the Lasso Tool, the Polygonal Lasso Tool and the Magnetic Lasso Tool. The polygonal lasso tool is used to select specific polygon shapes inside of the photo. While the magnectic lasso tool is used to hook onto specific areas in the photo, it will automatically “attach” itself to areas. The regular lasso tool will just lasso onto whatever you tell it to. To use these tools all you have to do is select the tool and drag it over your photo.

The 2nd selection tool is called The Magic Wand. What this tool does is it selects areas based on color patterns instead of the outside. It is easy to use it because there are no specific parts to it. All you have to do is select it then click on an area in your picture that you want to edit, the magic wand will grab the area specific to the color and you will be able to edit it to your needs.

Adobe Photoshop is an interesting and in depth tool for editing photos. You can create masterpieces with just a simple picture. Changing backgrounds became easy, editing sizes, cutting out pieces just got easier to do with Adobe. Learning it in just a couple of hours is phenomenally good for the novice user. Friends and family will love the masterpieces you can create with just the touch of a button. I anticipate that Adobe will become a lot more user-friendly over the next couple of years so that more and more people will feel comfortable using it.

The release of the tenth and newest version of the graphic editingindustry standard PhotoShop is called CS3, and it was released on April 16,2007. If you are a novice of the graphic editing and manipulationworld,you are going to want to read these three HOT tips to help get you going.They are put together to help you to see that the world of image management is not really as daunting as it may seem right now.

These tips for beginners address some of the basic challenges that you will encounter quickly as you delve into the sometimes perplexing realm of PhotoShop CS3.Here we go then….

Tip 1: Create custom, project-specified workspaces. Each project that you endeavor will require a certain set of palettes.You will want to take advantage of the feature that lets you save them independent of one another. Here’s how it’s done: When you have the palettes for a given project lined up as you like them, choose Window> Workspace> Save Workspace. Assign a name to the particular workspace andthen click Save.

Tip 2: Plan ahead when naming workspaces so that in the future each will ring a clear bell in your memory. Multiple projects over time can get confusing to remember.

Tip 3: Use two different windows to display each image.You often need to zoom in for closer looks at pixels. When you make changes to a zoomed-in image, you need to know that it will work effectively when you zoom back out. So, instead of zooming in and out constantly, it is far easier and less time-consuming to have two windows opened containing the same image at different zoom levels.To do this, simply select Window> Arrange> New Window. The same image will appear in a new window. Keep one zoomed at 100% and the other however you need it to work on it.

Well, there you are: a beginner’s lesson to get you started on the right foot. The sphere of PhotoShop CS3 is a large one, but one that can be managed with good habits and some forethought. Enjoy!

Scrap booking, a preview for the enthusiasts on how to create one we enlist some tips that would help you.

Creativity is something that uses imagination and there are various things in your house that you can use to create an attractive scrap book. Search the market to find collectables. There are so many decorative items you can buy without spending much. Inexpensive gems and fancy ribbons, the markets is filled with them. There is a lot that you can do with tiny things like sparkle stickers etc. Such efforts will bring great results.

If all these smalls bits of border outlining and fancy sparkle is not your taste then you can find things in your house, try creating a border outline with wood chips of your pencil sharpener then use pencil colors carefully to beautify that outline. Most of it is usually imagination and creativity, it’s your playground.

Now we shall learn the steps while designing an alphabet along with multiple patterns for a Digital scrap-booking project? Through this article you shall learn to create a text combining with design using Photoshop that helps you to make your own neat digital scrap booking. By the way of learning this process one could easily design alphabets and numerical, print and ultimately use to write names, titles or special heading on your scrapbook.

Now lets learn to operate Photoshop software, move the mouse cursor to click on file and select New to initiate a new document. Pick the size you’d like to create, like 250 x 400 pixel or what ever size you require.

Attention: All the above said steps can be found at photoshoptrail.com website, then use the option digital scrap booking available on the left menu.

Start with initiating a new document and save it, then create a new Layer, type with letter C and use the font – (Swis721 BlkOul BT) with 200pt and align it in the middle of the document.

Now go back and select the layer from last step and use keyboard to press Crtl simultaneously click on in use layer and select the letter C. Now select option gradient tool and choose a color option for example Dark Blue = #276D25 and Blue = #5C9159. Pull by using gradient tool diagonally from bottom right to top left corner and unpick the selection. Take the help of using the above said procedure you have learnt to make a Letter C with varying Blue color.

In the next step go to top menu bar, click on filters and then blur. You find that this way the letter C will turn the color a bit blurred.

In the next step we are shown how to make a shape which will be the design for the scarp book, this shape is created using the Pen Tool in the Photoshop toolbox palette. Now choose your color and fill it in with Gradient tool.

I hope that these steps have helped you well in trying to create the alphabet C with the color blue along with a design of your choice. To read and learn more you can always visit the site in the below signature.

Before you apply any of these special effects, it can be useful to apply a masking on your photo to select which areas you want to change and which you want to keep unchanged. You can easily get a nice soft fade between the effect and no-effect areas. This is called masking and there’s many ways of doing it. The one method I almost always use now (it took years before I discovered it) is the ‘quick mask mode’. It is very easy to use and usually gives acceptable results.

Quick masking

In Adobe Photoshop find the button called ‘edit in quick mask mode’. It’s located near the bottom of the main tool bar and looks like a circle in a rectangle. There’s also a short-cut key: Q. Once in quick mask mode, you can select and deselect areas simply by painting them with white and black respectively, using the standard brush tool. Zoom to 100 or 200 % for best accuracy. You might want to use a soft-edged brush to avoid hard edges. Alternatively, when you’re done, exit the masking mode and go to ‘Select > Feather’ and set the feather radius to 5-10 pixels or so. A nice option is that you can set the opacity to anywhere between 0 and 100%, allowing you to apply the effect stronger or weaker in one part of the image that another.

Layer masking

Slightly more complicated, you can add a layer mask. This allows you to apply any effect gradually from any point in your photo. Follow these steps in Photoshop:

1. Select ’Windows > Layers’.

2. Right click on your layer and select ’Duplicate layer’.

3. Click on the little icon in the bottom of the layer box called ‘Add layer mask’.

4. Select the ‘Gradient tool’ on the main tool box.

5. Choose a gradient style from the top ‘Options’ bar (linear, radial etc.).

6. Now click on your image on the point you don’t want to change, then drag the mouse away to the point where you want the full effect to take place. The effect will be applied gradually more and more along this line you’ve now create.

7. Finally, go back onto your original background layer and apply any effect you want. This will apply the effect in a soft, gradual way. Use opacity to turn the effect down to less than full strength if you want.

Lens-like effects

Using the layer masking described above, you can apply ‘Gaussian blur’ which will make the selected areas appear soft-focused, a bit like if you had used a large-aperture lens. With ‘Curves’ you can make your corners darker than the center, replicating the lens effect called vignetting. Technically, vignetting is considered a lens dysfunction, but subjectively it can add an extra feeling to your photo, a kind of frame that will have a ‘sucking’ effect, bringing more attention into the centre of your photo. You can also just lower the contrast and/or colour-saturation around your main subject, helping to separate it from the background clutter. There’s many other options, be creative!

Soft glow effect

Great for creating a ‘romantic’ look for portraits. Here’s what you have to do:

1. Duplicate layer.

2. Apply ‘Gaussian blur’ to the new (top) layer. Make it blurry, but leave a little detail.

3. Play around with the blend modes and opacity till you get what you want:

‘Darken’ or ‘Multiply’ blends darkens image details while also softening features and adding a halo. Good for soft, expressive shadows.

‘Lighten’ or ‘Screen’ blends lightens the image instead. Nice for adding high key or highlight glows.

‘Soft Light’ and ‘Overlay’ adds contrast and saturation. Especially useful for landscapes and still life photos.

Black-and-white-ish

A cool metallic black-and-white’ish look, in my opinion very suitable for documentary work and subdued portraits, is easily obtained by setting the contrast high (curves) and colour saturation low. Do it with Photoshop’s ‘layers’ to be able to tweak your exact settings it in place.

Colour grading

You know how some movies have a ’special look’, golden brown, sick yellow-greenish, cool blue etc.? You can get the same effect in your photos if you want. The simple way is to go to ‘Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation’, click ‘Colourize’ and use the slide bars to select your preferred grading. If you are going for a well-defined colour, it’s better to use the ‘Edit > Fill’ function. Simply select the colour you want and set the ‘Blending mode’ to ‘Colour’. Either way, it’s good first to duplicate your layer before you start. This will allow you to preserve some of the original colours by turning the colour grading down. Use the ‘Opacity’ slider in the layer box to do this. If you want a duotone image, simply make 2 duplicate layers and give them different colour gradings. Mix them together, again with the ‘Opacity’ slider and the different ‘Layer blending mode’ options in the layer box.

One example: To give your image a warm golden-brown colour tone, first make two duplicate layers. Use ‘Edit > Fill’ to make the first one brown (#963A12) and the second one yellow (#EDC715). Set opacities to 30 and 60% respectively and select the ‘Multiply’ blending mode for the top (yellow) layer. Tweak it in place to get it exactly like you want. Also try adding a soft glow, as described above.

Micro contrast

This is a really neat trick to enhance your contrast and draw out texture details in your photos. You can even use it when your overall contrast is already maxed out, using all tonal ranges from pure black to pure white. The procedure is similar to the normal ‘Unsharpen Mask’, but with some special settings. Go to ‘Filter > Sharpen > Unsharpen Mask’ and set the ‘Amount’ to around 20-30%, the ‘Radius’ to 50-100 pixels and zero on the ‘Threshold’. You will get a subtle contrast enhancement that, for some pictures at least, works really well.

Using any of the above mentioned effects can improve your photos and make them really eye-catching. However, learning when to use them and when not to use them is just as important as learning how to use them. When to use special effects in your photos is a matter of personal taste and judgement. Use it, but don’t overdo it. Often, less is more.

Colour photography is now the norm, and is perfect for most situations; however, there are some times when you want the power and simplicity of a black and white photo.

Black and white photography requires a different set of skills to colour, as the picture is formed purely from areas of light and shade. These days, black and white film is increasingly hard to come by, and unless you’re lucky enough to have a specialist lab near you, you’ll find the sort of machine processing they do at “one hour” photo places leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to processing black and white film.

Many modern digital cameras have a dedicated black and white mode, but mostly they just desaturate the picture and make it look washed out. It often works out better to shoot in colour and convert the picture in Photoshop.

Of course, the easiest way of making a colour photo black and white in Photoshop is to convert the mode to grayscale (Image > Mode > Grayscale), but this does limit your options if you want to enhance the picture later on.

In traditional black and white photography, coloured filters are sometimes placed over the lens to create a dramatic contrast. This is done because hues that seem quite different in real life (in colour) can merge into one shade of grey when seen in monochrome. The intensity of the colours are the same, even though the actual colours are different.

For example, a blue sky with white clouds can appear weak and washed out in a black and white photograph. If you place a red filter over the lens, it will darken the blue sky and make the white clouds stand out more. This is because the red filter blocks the blue colour waves more effectively than it does colours that are nearer to red.

The great thing about Photoshop is it enables you to experiment and get the effect just right. The method I find works best involves keeping the picture in RGB mode, and adjusting one of the colour channels.

If you go to the Layers palette, click the Channels tab, then click on (say) the Red channel, you’ll see an image that resembles a red filter over the lens of a camera with black and white film. The darkening of the blue tinted areas will make a moody, sophisticated image. For comparison, click on the Green channel and then the Blue. The results will be surprising — and very different!

I like to then fine tune the result by adjusting the Levels. Keep your chosen channel selected, and then go to Image > Adjustments > Levels, and adjust the sliders until you get the desired result. Then be sure to save the picture as a new file to preserve your original.

Incidentally, if you apply this process to two channels at the same time, you can get some pretty stunning colour effects too!

Siri Stafford, my art director at the time, suggested this stock image for me. She asked me to make the image because she thought my specialty of using Photoshop to create conceptual stock images made me a logical choice for the job. I truly loved the idea; but what the heck would lightning hitting a tree really look like?

I turned to that technological development that has so radically changed the world of commercial photography…the internet. I simply typed in to Google’s image search “lightning and tree”. In just a few minutes I had found some obviously amateur images…but ones that were nonetheless stunning actual images of lightning hitting trees. Now I had something to work towards.

In my mind I pictured a lonely expanse of land with a single oak tree. A lightning bolt is caught as it hits the tree and illuminates the scene around it. The bolt travels down the trunk of the tree illuminating the leaves both from above and from behind at the same time. The sky is dark from storm clouds gathering at dusk.

Photographing the Oak Tree

There are many oak trees near my home in Marin County just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. I scouted an open space nearby and found an oak tree that suited my needs. I photographed it just before noon with a slight back lighting. At that time I was still using film and captured the image with a Hasselblad medium format camera on Kodak Ektachrome film. Due to the steep slope of the land I couldn’t get the whole tree in the frame, despite my wide-angle lens, unless I turned the camera to a diagonal angle. In the same space I found and photographed an open expanse of land with a foreground of wild oats. From my files I found a photograph of cloudy skies and some distant low mountains—shot in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with a dirt road winding through the composition.

Getting a picture of a lightning strike

During a recent winter trip to Ladakh, a region in Kashmir often referred to as “Little Tibet” I got my lightning. It was long after dark and I was suffering both from altitude sickness and a case of the flue exacerbated by the extreme cold in my unheated guest room. A flash of light lit up the room and immediate rush of thunder testified to the closeness of the strike. Being as how I had never managed to shoot lightning (rarely do we get lightning in the San Francisco Bay Area), I managed to drag myself out from under the covers and grappled for my camera. With my head spinning from my physical condition I groggily shoved a roll of film in my F100, steadied on the windowsill, open the shutter and waited. Boom! Another flash. I repeated the procedure until I had shot a roll then climbed, shaking, back into my cot. As a stock photographer using Photoshop to composite so many of my images together, I am always on the look out for elements that I will be able to using in my stock composites. That effort finally paid off, I thought, as I scanned two of those lightning shots for this image. I made the scans using my Scanmate 5000 drum scanner and scanning the images at 100 megabytes each.

Using Adobe Photoshop to combine the images into a stock photo

I began assembling the image by using layer masks to paint together the landscape and cloud images. I merged the layers, duplicated the new layer, lightened it up with an adjustment layer of curves, and then used the layer masking to paint in the area to be “illuminated” by the lightning. The Tree was selected using the Color Range, magic wand, and lasso tools in conjunction with alpha channels. Making a selection of a tree with thousands of leaves is quite a challenge and in this case required not just the above sequence of operations, but also considerable time going in at 100% magnification and by hand, using the lasso tool, “cleaning up” even more of the tree selection. With the tree selected I copied and pasted it into the background. I duplicated the tree layer twice, darkened one with the curves and lightened the other. I then used layer masking to create the effect of light and dark areas where the lightning would be lighting up the leaves closest to the lightning bolt. Finally, I brought in the lightning bolt itself, pasted it in, and then setting the layer mode to “lighten” only. By setting the mode to “lighten” the pixels in the lightning image that were lighter than the underlying pixels of the rest of the image become the only ones visible…thus there was no need to “strip” the lightning bolt out of it’s dark background (I used the curves to darken the image enough to eliminate all but the lightning bolt itself). I used the liquefy brush to “fine-tune” the path of the bolt.

A timeless fine art image or stock photo

In the end I have not just a pretty picture, but a conceptual stock image that can be used to illustrate a number of marketing concepts. The image is exactly the kind of image that I strive to create, dramatic, useful and timeless. 

Layers are a powerful feature of Photoshop that allow you to work on one part of an image without disturbing the rest of it. While the concept of layers may seem intimidating at first, once you get the hang of using layers you’ll wonder how you ever survived without them!

The transparent parts of any layer, shown by the checkered grid, allow the layers beneath that layer to show through. You can show and hide each layer in an image by clicking on its corresponding eye icon in the Layers palette.

To organize your layers, you can arrange them into layer groups by going to Layer > New > Group…. Each layer group displays in the same way as any ungrouped layers on the Layers palette. A layer group is signified by a folder icon. You can collapse or expand layer groups by clicking on the triangle to the left of the folder icon, and nest layer groups within each other by dragging one folder icon into another.

Here are 10 quick Layer Shortcuts.

1 – Rename layers by double-clicking on the layer name.

2 – Select a layer by using the keyboard shortcuts Alt-[ and Alt-] (Option-[ and Option-] on a Mac).

3 – Merge a layer into the one beneath it by pressing Ctrl- E (Command-E). If you have selected layers, this shortcut
will merge those selected layers together.

4 – Change the transparency of a layer by changing its opacity with the Opacity slider, or typing a value into the
Opacity box (which is visible when you have the Selection, Move, or Crop tools selected).

5 – Duplicate a selected layer by pressing Ctrl-J (Command-J on a Mac). You can also duplicate a layer by dragging it
while pressing the Alt (Option) key.

6 – Select multiple layers by holding down Ctrl (Command on a Mac) and clicking the layer names. This forms a temporary link between the selected layers that allows you to move them as one unit, delete them all, and so on.

7 – You can also link layers together. Select layers by clicking on them while holding down Shift or Ctrl (Command
on a Mac).

8 – To unlink all the layers, select one of the linked layers and go to Layer > Unlink Layers.

9 – To temporarily unlink a layer, hold down Shift and click on its link icon (a red “X” will appear over the link icon).

10 – Reactivate the link by holding down Shift and clicking the link icon again.

The best tool a freelance digital photographer has, besides a digital camera, is photoshop. Mainly, because it can increase stock photo sales and generate more profit. It can work just as well if your more into just editing digital photos, or graphic design. You are still going to need a digital camera, but putting more focus on digital editing is really up to you.

With every coming year the population of graphic designers and photo editors has been increasing. Photo editors, like yourself, are trying to find a freelance income from their work. This can be hard with competition and location. So, a lot of those people turn to stock photo sites to start a career or earn extra income. If you don’t know what a stock photography site is, the definition is basically a site that provides graphic designers, advertisers, and marketers digital photos for whatever job they need. The people selling them upload their photos, the photos are bought through a stock photography site like Shutterstock and you earn a commission or a profit. It can be said that this is mainly a freelance digital photography business but lately that has changed. Actually having photo editing skills will benefit you in the long run and earn you more sales.

The people that are buying stock photos are graphic designers and photo editors like you. Which makes it easier for you to understand exactly what a buyer wants. You can utilize this information and make more sales by providing them with the types of digital photos they need for a particular job. It might not apply as much Photoshop and digital editing as one would want but its a freelance lucrative business that can earn you a pretty decent paycheck.

You are going to need two things right at the beginning: a digital camera and an internet connection. Then you can learn how to create your own digital stock photography portfolio. It’s important that you learn about keywords, uploading, traffic, best photos to sell and the best stock photography sites. There are some books that helped me, but one source in particular I recommend is a program called Camera Dollars. Basically, this program will teach you all the technical stuff that is hard for anyone to understand. (the link is on the site). That is where I learned this information when I was first starting out. I started out only selling digital photography and in the beginning I was only earning about $100.00 per site every day. I later started using Photoshop a ton more and increased my profits multiple times.

If you are digital editor or graphic designer then I definitely recommend trying to sell your work on places like Shutterstock to see if it’s right for you. If your a digital photographer you need to get photoshop for photo upkeep and presentation. If you work hard and spend several hours each week you will earn money fairly quick. You won’t need to quit your day job, you just need enough time to take and edit photos.