Bev Pettit Photography

"Weekly" not so Weekly Lately

2010-06-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

Apologies for not posting lately. I have been really tied up with work this summer, especially the course that I'm teaching for Learn To Take Photos.com. The course is so much fun but is taking more time than initially anticipated.

I'll be back soon though, with more Tips for Photographers! Thanks for your patience!

Cheers,
Bev

Adding Contrast - FAST!

2010-06-06T07:07:00.001-07:00

Last week I had the pleasure of joining a talented group of photographers on an Arizona Highways photo workshop in Monument Valley, Navajo Nation, Arizona. Most of the images that I took were shot at sunrise or sunset (during that "magic" hour when the light is brilliant and warm). When photographing landscapes one can come up against hazy morning skies. You may want to increase the contrast when you get your images into Photoshop.

Here is a really quick and easy way to get rid of the haze (and a good starting point for your post production work in Photoshop). Click on any image to enlarge.

Here is my original image:

And here is the adjusted image:

And here's what you do:

1. Open your original document.
2. Add a Curves Adjustment Layer to your Background Layer

3. From the Curves Adjustment Layer window choose Increase Contrast from the Preset drop down list at the top of the Curves window.

4. From here you can add further Curves Adjustment Layers to adjust the levels of darks and lights selectively in your image on the mask provided with the adjustment layer.

That's it! Quick and easy!

Edit your Images on Layers

2010-05-19T13:36:00.009-07:00

Whenever you want to make an adjustment to your image in Photoshop it is highly recommended that you do any work on a new Layer, and not on your Background Layer. All that you need to do is create a duplicate layer of your background (Ctrl/Cmd J). This is called "non-destructive" editing. Another good reason for working on a duplicate layer is that if you ever want to go back and make further changes to your adjusted layer you can do so as many times as you like, as long as you save your file in the Photoshop (.psd) format. This way, your layers will be saved along with your original background layer.

I am proud to announce that I will be teaching a new course at Learn to Take Photos, the online photography school, starting June 2: The course is called The Creative Power of Photoshop Layers. There's still time to sign up if you want to learn more about this MOST useful feature in Photoshop.

Create an Infrared Effect

2010-05-12T13:22:00.002-07:00

Infrared (meaning "under red") film gives a photo a dreamlike appearance. Scenes with a lot of green in them, like landscapes, work well as infrareds. In landscape photos skies become dark and clouds stand out very strongly.

Although the original use of infrared was intended for film, we can reproduce a similar effect with just a few easy steps in Photoshop. Here's how: (click on any image to enlarge)
Open your image and make a copy of your Background Layer. (Cmd/Ctl J)
Next, create a Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer (from the Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of your layer's palette)
In the Channel Mixer dialog box make sure the Monochrome box is checked so that your image converts from color to Black and White. Next move your green slider all the over to the right (+100) and your blue slider all the way to the left (-100). Then move your red slider to +100. Now you can fine tune your sliders until you get the black and white toning that you like in your image. Just be sure that the Total for the sliders comes out to +100%.
Now we want to add a Filter to our Infrared layer but we can't add a filter to a the adjustments layers below so we have to create a Merged Copy Layer to apply the filter to. So with the top layer active hold down Shift - Option - Command (Mac) or Shift - Alt - Control (PC) all at the same time, and then type the letter N and then the letter E. Now you should have a fourth layer, a merged copy layer, that we can apply the filter to.
So with the Merged Copy Layer selected go to the Filter Menu and choose Distort>Diffuse Glow.
You'll get a new screen Diffuse Glow screen. On the slider bars choose settings similar to this:
You can play around with the settings. They may be different depending on your image. But that's it! Have fun!

2010-05-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the late blog this week. I'm doing some construction on my blog site and this may take some time. Will keep you posted! Thanks for your patience!

Paint a Frame Around your Photo

2010-05-03T14:15:00.015-07:00

How to Paint a Frame Around your Photo. Click on any image to enlarge.

This technique offers many possibilities for creating a fun and different look to your photo. Here are the steps I used to create this image:

Open your image and duplicate the Background (Cmd/Ctrl J). Make sure your Layers Palette is open (go to Window>Layers).
Go to Image>Canvas Size. Add one inch of canvas to the width and the height.
Click on the top layer (the duplicate). Next we're going to tilt the image by going to Free Transform under the Edit Menu or hit Cmd/Ctrl T on your keyboard to bring up the Free Transform command. Grab ahold of one of the "handles" on the corners and slightly tilt your image to the left or right.
When you are satisfied with the tilt hit the check mark on your Toolbar.
Set your Background and Foreground colors to their default. Press D on your keyboard.
Select the Background Layer. Press Option-Delete on a Mac or Alt-Backspace on a PC to fill the Background Layer with Black.
Select the brush tool on your tool bar.
Pick a brush style from your Brush Picker. Now here's where you can get really creative. For my example I chose a "stipple" brush but you can play with all of the brush styles and sizes for a different effect if you wish.
What we're going to do is paint a line around our image to create a brush stroke frame. I selected a light gray color for my brush but you can have some fun with other colors if you wish. You can change your brush color by clicking on your foreground color to bring up the color picker.
Or you can choose the eyedropper on the tool bar and then pick a complimentary color in your image for your frame.
Now we're just going to paint around the image with the paint brush. Make sure your image layer is selected (not your black background layer). With the brush style, size and color now chosen click once in any corner of your image. Press and hold the Shift key down, and click on the next corner. Repeat until you have completed your painting around all four sides of your image.
That's it! Have fun!

Digital Gallery Matt

2010-04-26T14:06:00.003-07:00

Even though we post so much of our work these days on the internet and don't actually print and matt every image, it's nice to be able to present a photograph on the internet with the look of a fine art gallery print.

Here's how to create a matt around your image in a few easy steps: (Click on any image to enlarge)

Open your image in Photoshop. Be sure that your Layer's Palette is open. Go to Window>Layers to turn it on if it isn't already open. Duplicate your background layer. Command-J (Mac) Control-J (PC).

Next we are going to increase the canvas size to create the matt board look around the image. From the Image Menu choose Canvas Size. Make sure that the "relative" box is checked to turn it on. Add one inch to the width and the height.

Choose Image>Canvas size again. This time add .75 to the height but be sure that the top-center square is selected. This will add the space to the bottom of the image only. Many times you will see matt boards cut with a little more "weight" on the bottom. This also allows for room to add text if you'd like.

Now we're going to add an outline around the "matt opening". Command click on a Mac, Control click on a PC, on the top layer thumbnail. Go to the Select menu and choose Transform Selection. Now we're going to enlarge the selection to make a frame around the opening. To constrain the proportions, resize the selection from the center, be sure that you press and hold down the Option Key on a Mac, Alt Key on a PC. Drag one of the corner handles out to enlarge the selection. Press Return or Enter (PC) when you have the selection the size you want it.

In order to add a stroke line for this selection we need to Create a New Layer (bottom of the Layer's Palette). Go to the Edit Menu and choose Stroke. Make the width about 2 pixels wide and choose a color (or leave it black). Click OK and then deselect by pressing Command-D on a Mac, Control-D on a PC.

You can add a drop shadow to your stroke layer by adding a Layer Style (bottom of the Layer's Palatte). Choose Drop Shadow, click once on the drop shadow name to go to the drop shadow dialog box. Change any settings to your liking and hit OK to close the dialog box.

If you want to add text to the bottom area of your new matt simply choose the Type tool, center align your text and begin typing. Open your Type dialog box to make changes to fonts, sizes, colors, tracking, etc.

And of course, because you used layers in all of these steps, you can always go back and make changes if you wish. Just be sure to save your document as a PSD file to keep the layers in tact.

Rule of Thirds

2010-04-21T06:28:00.002-07:00

According to Wikipedia: The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section. The main reason for observing the rule of thirds is to discourage placement of the subject at the center, or prevent a horizon from appearing to divide the picture in half.

I have found that applying this Rule of Thirds, either consciously or subconsciously to my images, really does improve the composition. Again I quote from Wikipedia (because they really do say it best): The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would.

For this Tips Lesson I would like show you how to create Rule of Thirds guides in Photoshop that you can turn on and off so that you can check every one of your images to see if it complies with this compositional "rule". I think that if you pay more attention to this you will find that your image also will have more energy and interest. I know mine do!

Here we go: (Click on any image to enlarge)

Open an image in Photoshop.
Under the Photoshop Menu choose Preferences>Guides, Grids and Slices.
In the Preferences Dialog Box, in the GRID section, set your Gridline to 33.3 percent. I changed the color of my gridlines to green. I just felt that green would show up better. But you can change this color to whatever you like or leave it at the default. Make sure that your Subdivisions section is set to 1. Click OK.
Now when you go back to your image in PS go to the View Menu, Choose Show>Grid. This is how you can turn your Rule of Thirds Gridlines on and off.
Practice this with a few different images to see how it applies to each and then you decide which look compositionally "correct".

Active Space

2010-04-16T08:19:00.002-07:00

This has been a busy week. Right now I'm in Mexico enjoying the Sea of Cortez with my family ...which includes our two very rambunctious dogs.

Over the years I've found that one of the most valuable ways to learn useful photography tips is to sign up for one of the many well-run online courses available these days. Here are my favorite places to go for online courses: Learn to Take Photos (learntotakephotos.com), Equine Photographers Network (equinephotographers.org), Perfect Picture School of Photography (ppsop.com) and Better Photo (betterphoto.com).

I finished a wonderful course on Composition in photography a couple of weeks ago led by Shelley Paulson, a fantastic photographer from Minnesota. This course, offered through Equine Photographers Network, was all about composition and how to make sure your photographs have lots of punch by ensuring your compositions are as good as they can be.

One of my favorite lessons from Shelley was her lesson on Active Space. Leaving active space in front of your moving subject means that you always want to leave enough room for your subject to move into. Alternately, the space behind your subject is often referred to as dead space. The reason that this compositional technique is important is that when someone views your image and sees that your subject is moving in one direction – their eye naturally wants to move in that direction also. If you crowd your subject too much your eye has nowhere to go and your composition becomes static. I took this photo of our dog on the beach yesterday to illustrate a good example of the concept of active space.

The Orton Effect or Creating a Slide Sandwich

2010-04-04T09:33:00.002-07:00

The Orton Effect gives an image a dreamlike quality. This technique was originally invented by Michael Orton. It involves taking two exact images, blurring one and then layering it over the sharp image. Before digital, Orton created the sandwich by layering two emulsion slides together. This lesson will show us how we can create a digital "sandwich" in Photoshop by using Layers and get pretty much the same results. Click on any image to enlarge.

Select an image and open it up in Photoshop. Make a duplicate of the image (Image>Duplicate) so that you are not working on your original. Close the original image.

Lighten your image by changing the Blend Mode. Go to Image>Apply Image and change your Blending Mode to Screen. Make sure the Opacity is set to 100%. Your image will now appear to be Overexposed.
Now duplicate this image. Go to Image>Duplicate.
Blur the duplicated image. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set your Radius to somewhere between 10 and 80 pixels. The smaller file size of your image, the less blur you will choose (small file=small radius; larger file=large radius). You can experiment with different radius choices.
Select your Move Tool from the Toolbar. Hold down the Shift Key and drag your blurred image onto the sharp one.
Make sure your Layers Palette is visible. Go to Windows>Layer to bring it up if it isn't already. Change your Blend Mode from Normal to Multiply.
Without any further adjustments you have a dreamy fine art picture!
Flatten your image. (Layer>Flatten) And then Save it!

Make your colors POP!

2010-03-29T11:13:00.013-07:00

There are times when your photo needs a little boost to brighten up flat lighting and colors. Today we'll go over a quick way to get those images to POP!

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Here is my original image.
And here is the same image after using a Curves Adjustment Layer to POP the colors!
Open your image in Photoshop. Change the color mode to Lab Color (Image Menu>Mode>Lab Color). You will see why this is important when we open our Curves dialog box. Instead of Red, Green, and Blue channels (as in RGB mode) you will have Lightness, "a" and "b" channels to work with.
Create a New Adjustment Layer by clicking on the Adjustment Layer Icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette.
Press and hold down the Option Key (Mac) or the Alt Key (PC) and click once on the Curves grid to make the grid smaller.
From the Channel menu choose the "a" channel. Click and drag the top point at the curve one box to the left. Then click and drag the bottom point at the curve one box to the right.
Now choose the "b" channel and do the same thing here.
Click OK to close your Curves dialog box and see the results from your adjustments. You can always go back to your Curves dialog box to increase or decrease your adjustments by clicking on the Curves Adjustment Layer in your Layers Palette.

Add a Background Texture Layer

2010-03-22T11:15:00.003-07:00

Last week we learned how to copy a free image from Google Images to use with our Photoshop image.

Today we'll take that image and paste it over our Photoshop image to create a textured layer background.

Click on any image to enlarge.

Open an image in Photoshop that you would like to add a textured background to.
Find a texture that you like in Google images (or where ever else you'd like) and then copy and paste it onto your already open image in Photoshop. (Ctrl/Cmd V to paste) (See last week's tip on how to find free Google images)
After you've pasted your texture layer onto your picture in Photoshop select the texture layer and choose Free Transform under the Edit menu (Edit>Free Transform). You'll see the little handles around the edge of the texture image now. Just pull and stretch your texture image to fit over your Photoshop image from corner to corner. You may want to resize your Photoshop image down first if it's much larger than your texture image. (The free downloadable textures from Google are quite small but you can always buy larger higher res files from places like istockphoto.com ...or shoot your own backgrounds!) Once you get the texture layer sized to fit over your Photoshop picture be sure to check the OK box on the menu bar.
Next we want to change the Blend Mode to Multiply. Be sure your Texture layer is selected and double click the thumbnail texture image to bring up the Layer Style Dialog box. Change the Blend Mode to Multiply. Click OK.
Your image will be pretty dark with this new layer applied over it but you can lighten it by changing the Opacity slider.
Since we want the texture to affect just the background we'll add a layer mask to the texture layer and paint over the areas that we DON'T want the texture to show through on. Choose a soft brush and be sure your foreground is set to black. Begin painting. In my case I've painted over the horse because I want it to remain light and without a lot of the background texture on it. You can hit Control/Command J to copy this layer if you'd like to darken the background more after you've finished painting on your mask. Remember that you can "erase" anything that you've painted by changing your foreground color to white. White erases, Black paints.
That's it!
Once you get the hang of this technique it will be quite easy to add different background texture layers to many of your images. Have fun!

Free Images from Google

2010-03-15T09:02:00.001-07:00

There are times when you want an image to use as a background for a texture in an image that you are working on and don't have the time or where-with-all to go out and shoot for it. There are many sites on the internet where you can buy and download images to use as textures or background replacements.

But a FREE and LEGAL way to get images quickly was just brought to my attention. Google has hundreds of different images in many different subjects that you can choose from, download instantly and they are all FREE. Click on any image below to enlarge.

Here's how you find them:

Open www.Google.com and click on the Advanced Image Search line to the right of the Search Images button.
Once you are in the Advanced Image Search dialog box you'll be able to type in the kind of image you are looking for. In my example I am looking for images of "leather textures". You can search for photos, line drawings, clip art, etc. of your subject under Content Types. You can search for particular sizes of images, etc.
In the Usage Rights dialog box you can choose the type of usage you are wanting the image for. If you want to use a picture for an composite that you are working on in Photoshop that you will modify (like a leather texture, or background using a beach scene) choose the "Labeled for reuse with modification" selection.
I would suggest that you read the Google Usage Rights information before using an image. Just click on the "More info" tab to bring up that information.
When you find the image that you like simply click on it. Next you'll get a dialog box like this:
Click "see full size image" and then right click on the image. Here you can choose what you want to do with it. To bring the image into Photoshop we'll just choose "Copy Image" and then go to Photoshop and Paste it into a new document or into an already opened document.
Next week we'll look at how to use these downloaded images as backgrounds in an already existing photo.

Blur the Background

2010-03-07T09:40:00.001-07:00

This week we are going to take a photo and blur the background. We can also create a soft overall focus with the same technique in a just few easy steps. Click on any image to enlarge.

Open your image and press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the Background layer. Click on the Filter Menu and choose Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set the pixel radius setting to how much blur you would like. We are going to paint back in the areas that you want less blurred. So if you want the background really blurred out a lot then go for a higher radius. This may be something that you'd want to experiment with depending on your image and the effect you want to gain.
Click OK after you have set your radius.
Your photo will now look blurry all over. You can also drop the opacity of your blurred layer down to around 50% or 60% if you want to reveal more from the sharp background layer below.
Next, you will create a Layer Mask on your blur layer. Click on the Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette. Then choose a soft brush and begin painting. Make sure that your foreground color is Black to reveal the sharpness. If you'd like to go back and erase what you have done (making parts of the image more blurred again) simply change your foreground color to White and paint over.
Play around with all of these settings for different effects and different levels of blur. It can be a lot of fun!

Week #9: Painting a Black/White Image with Selective Color

2010-02-28T07:23:00.012-07:00

This is my favorite way to quickly add color to a black and white image: (click any images to enlarge)

First, open your image and convert it to black and white if it isn't already converted.
To convert to black and white see my PS Tips Blog Week #5: Quick Conversion to BW, or you can use a Black and White Adjustment Layer to convert. Click on the Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette dialog box.
Make sure your new Adjustment Layer is selected in the Layers Palette. Next, simply paint the color back into the areas you wish. Choose a brush from the brush palette (hit B on your keyboard to change to the brush tool). Make sure you are painting with a BLACK brush (choose black for your foreground color) on the areas that you want to REVEAL the color.
If you go over the lines of an area that you are painting (in other words, if you mess up!) simply paint with a WHITE brush. (Change the foreground color to white by hitting the X on your keyboard). Now you can erase the areas where you went over the lines.
That's it! With a little practice and experimentation with brush sizes and opacity you will be able to create your masterpiece!

Week #8 - Add a Photo Frame to your image

2010-02-22T11:12:00.014-07:00

This is a fun way to add a frame or border to your image while using the same photo.

1. First, open your image and duplicate the background layer in your Layers Palette. (Command-J on a Mac, Control-J on a PC)

2. With the duplicate layer selected, press Command or Control-T, or go to Edit>Free Transform menu. Option-Shift-Click (Mac) Alt-Shift-Click (PC) to constrain proportions and keep your image centered, then drag a corner handle toward the center. Press Return/Enter when you have the image sized as you like.

3. Select the Background Layer. Add a New Adjustment Layer (bottom of Layers Palette). Make the new layer a Hue/Saturation Layer. Lower the Saturation and increase the Lightness. You can watch the effects as you change the sliders on your image.

4. Select the layer of the scaled down image and Add a Layer Style (click the effects, "fx", symbol at the bottom of the Layers Palette). Choose Stroke from the effects pop up menu. Once the Layer Style dialog box is open you can create your edge around the smaller image. Click on the color swatch and choose a color. Hover over the image with your cursor until you see the eyedropper tool. Then click on a Color in the image that you would like for the border. Make sure that the Position is set to Inside. Increase the Size (width) of the line to what you'd like.

5. Variations of this technique can be applied by choosing different Filters from the Filter menu. While leaving everything as you've already done, duplicate your Background Layer. Then simply go up to the Filter menu and experiment with different effects that you get from the various filters. Here are three that I tried using the Gaussian Blur, Glow Edge and Mosaic Tile filters. You can try many more!

Week 7 - Lighting Effect using a Curves Adjustment Layer

2010-02-15T10:10:00.003-07:00

This simple lighting effect can be created in just a couple of easy steps.

Here is the original image that we will work on today.

First, click on the Create a New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette. Add a Curves Adjustment Layer. Click on the top right point of the curve and drag it down the right side until you reach an Output number of around 70 or 80.

Second, choose a very large soft Brush (press B on your keyboard to select a brush). Be sure that your Foreground is set to black. Set the Opacity of the brush to 60%. Click once on the image where you would like to add your lighting. For instance, I made my brush large enough to cover the horses' eye and face and clicked there. Then lower your brush opacity to around 20%, move your brush tool to another spot, somewhere away from the first lighting effect, and click again. Keep clicking until you have the amount of light that you'd like. I clicked four times with the 20% brush after my first click with the 60% brush.

Here's the final image after adding the Curves Adjustment Layer and the five clicks with a large soft brush. Have fun!

Photo Shop Tip #6 - Layer Styles: Another easy way to Tint and image and add a Glow Vignette

2010-02-08T09:37:00.006-07:00

This week we're going to add a sepia tint and a glow border to your image in just a few easy steps using Layer Styles.

First, duplicate your original image. (Image>Duplicate) Double-click your background layer to unlock it so that you can add effects.

Next we're going to add layer styles to your background layer beginning with a Color Overlay.

Step 1: At the bottom of your Layers Palette click on the "fx" icon, second from the left, to bring up the Layers Styles. Choose Color Overlay. Change the Blend Mode pop-up to Color. Click on the color swatch and choose a color. In this case I chose a brownish tone of H:30, S:75, B:50. You can also lower the opacity slider a little bit if you like. I lowered mine to 90%.

Step 2: Next we want to add an Inner Glow Layer Style for a soft vignette around the edge of the image. While still in the Layer Style dialog box, choose Inner Glow from the options on the left-hand side. Click on the Color Swatch and type in the same Hue setting (H:30) in the Color Picker as we did in Step 1. Play with different saturation and brightness settings until you find one that you like. After you click OK in the color picker, adjust the Size Slider to control the size of your vignette.

Week 5: Quick Conversion to Black & White or Tones

2010-02-01T09:01:00.010-07:00

Open and Image. Choose Image>Adjustments>Black and White.

You will now have a black and white image. To adjust the intensity of the black and white tones move the color sliders back and forth under Custom Preset. Look at your image to see how the sliders affect it as you move them.

Next, change the Custom Preset to one of the Filter choices from the Preset Drop Down Menu. See how each affects your image differently.

After deciding on a Custom or Filter Preset you can use the color sliders to fine-tune your shading. Or you can hold your cursor over the image (cursor looks like an eyedropper) and then click and drag on the different areas of the image that you want to make darker or lighter. Dragging left makes them lighter and dragging right makes them darker.

If you want to color tone your image to sepia, or blue, or magenta, etc., simply check the Tint Box at the lower left corner of the BW dialog box. Then move the hue and saturation sliders back and forth to choose a tone.

Photo Shop Tip #4 - Quick and Easy Vignette

2010-01-25T09:21:00.005-07:00

Open a new image file in Photoshop. Open your Layers Palette (Window menu>Layers) and duplicate your Background Layer. With the new duplicated layer chosen draw a rectangle around the outside edge of your image using the Rectangle Marquee tool.

With the rectangle still selected, go to the Select Menu and choose Modify>Feather. Pick a feather radius and type the number into the pixel box. Somewhere around 80-100 is a good radius to start with. Click OK.

Then go to the Select Menu again and choose Inverse. You will now see two rows of "marching ants" around your image. Go to Image>Adjustments>Curves and bring your curve down to add darkness at the desired level for the vignette shading. Click OK and Deselect.

You can always go back to the vignette layer to reduce the opacity of the vignette if you wish.

Voila'! You now have a vignette!

Week 3 - Create a Signature Brush

2010-01-18T08:20:00.013-07:00

If you ever want to add your signature to a photo here is a quick way to create your signature brush. This allows you to add your signature with just one click of the brush tool.

Create a new document in PhotoShop. File>New, make the new file approximately 1200 x 600 pixels, Choose Transparent for the background.

With the Text tool, type your name (or enter your text) in Black. Choose the font(s) that you like and format how you wish.

Select your text with the text tool. Then, choose your brush tool and then go to the Edit menu and choose Define Brush Preset. Name your new brush and click OK.

Now open an image that you wish to add your signature to. Then Choose the Brush Tool and open your brush palette (in the upper left hand corner of your screen). Your new brush will be added to the end of your existing brushes.

When you hover over your image with your new brush tool selected you will see your signature as your brush.

You can increase or decrease the size of your brush in two ways. Either choose the pixel size from the slider at the top of your brush palette. Or you can press the left or right bracket keys on your keyboard. (to the right of the letter P on your keyboard).

If you want to change the color of your text just click on the Foreground Color Box to bring up the Color Picker dialog box. Choose your color. Then Click OK. Now go back to your image with your signature brush and place your signature where you’d like.

Or, you can click on the Foreground Color Box With your Eyedropper Tool and choose a color from within the image that would work well for your signature.

You can always go back and change any of these settings. And you can move your brush if you don’t like how it looks after you’ve placed it. (love the UNDO command!). Just remember, you always have to have your brush tool selected for any of these steps to work! Get Creative and

Have Fun!

Week 2 - Extend an Image

2010-01-11T06:17:00.019-07:00

The original needs a little space added to the right:
Add space to the right by increasing Canvas Size:
Space has been added and the selection is stretched:
Final image with space added:

Extend an Image in Photo Shop

There may be times when you’ve cropped your image a little too tight in the camera when you’re framing a photo. You may want to add more room to one side of a photo or you want your image to fit a certain aspect ratio on your page.

Here’s how you extend your image:

1. Duplicate your background layer. (Command J on a Mac. Ctrl-J on a PC.) Make sure your duplicate layer is chosen for the next step. First, you’ll be adding on to your canvas size (NOT the image size). Choose Canvas Size from the Image menu. In the Canvas Size Dialog Box click on the left-most center Anchor Point.

2. Next you’ll add your extra half inch to the Width, so type the number “.o5” into the Width box. Make sure your drop down box to the right is set to inches for this exercise (you can set to points or pixels or whatever you choose later). Since you are working on a duplicate layer your added pixels will be transparent.

3. Using your rectangular marquee’ tool, select an area to the right of the image. Be sure to select from top to bottom. This is the area that will be stretched to fill the empty canvas. The bigger the selection the better. But do not select any part of the image that you do not want stretched (you do not want the horse stretched, in this case, so be sure to not select any part of it).

4. Copy this selection to a new layer. Command-J or Control J. 5. Select the copied layer. Now choose the Free Transform tool under the Edit Menu. Pull across, to the right, from the center right handle to stretch the layer to the edge of the new canvas.

2010-01-04T10:41:00.012-07:00

Open a larger than you’ll ever need new document in PhotoShop. Make sure the background is Transparent.
Next choose your Text Tool. You can choose a font, color and size for your symbol either before or after you create your © symbol in your PS document.
To create a © symbol using a PC you hold down the Alt key and type 0169 on your keypad. (The keypad is to the far right side of your keyboard). Then release the Alt key and you’ll see your symbol - ©. On a Mac type Option-G to get your © symbol.
You can go back to your saved symbol document anytime to change the font, color, size, opacity or change the attributes of the symbol.
To change the attribute and/or opacity of the symbol you would first use the Text Tool to select your symbol. Now you can change the color, font or size. You can also change the opacity or add a drop shadow in your Layers Style dialog box. In the Layers window, double click on the text next to the layer thumbnail of your symbol to unlock it. You can open your Layers Style dialog box by double clicking the text bar to the right of your symbol thumbnail. Once you are in the Layers Style dialog box try playing with the Blending Options (drop shadow, inner shadow, etc.) and the Opacity (under General Blending). Also try adjusting the Blend If: Gray sliders at the bottom of the Layer Style dialog box to see how this changes the symbol.

Once you are happy with how the symbol looks you can simply drag the symbol on to the opened document in which you want the symbol placed.
After the symbol is placed into over your document you can change the size of the symbol if you wish. Be sure to choose the symbol thumbnail in your .psd Layers Palette. Next go to Free Transform under the Edit Menu. Hold down your shift key to constrain the proportions and drag a corner to enlarge or reduce the size of the symbol.
A more transparent symbol looks nice when placed directly over an image so that it doesn’t overpower the image itself, yet your copyright symbol is still obvious.