Thursday, October 25, 2012

Tutorial Photoshop Duo Tone

Tutorial Photoshop Duo Tone

Open the photo you would like to alter. Change the photo to black and white by clicking on Image/Mode/Grayscale. Be sure that RGB is checked and 8 bits per channel is also checked. A pop-up window will ask if you want the color information to be discarded. Click OK.

Tutorial Photoshop Duo Tone

Now you will get to choose the two colors you would like your photograph to be. Do this by clicking on Image/Mode/Duotone. A new window will open. In that window is a drop down tab for monotone, duotone, tripe tone, or quadruple tone. For this tutorial, we are only going to be using duotone.

Tutorial Photoshop Duo Tone

Two boxes will open up asking you to select colors. You want two contrasting colors. I will be selecting a shade of brown and a shade of pink. To change the color, simply place your mouse on the first color and click on it. A color selector window will pop open.

Tutorial Photoshop Duo Tone

In that window, click on custom so that you will be working with Pantone Colors. Slide the color bar up and down until you get to a color you like. Then click on that color in the bigger preview pane and click OK. Repeat this step for choosing the second color.

Tutorial Photoshop Duo Tone

Your photo should now look something like this:

Tutorial Photoshop Duo Tone
If you like this technique, you can apply it to 3 or even 4 colors simply by choosing triple tone or quadruple tone and then following the above steps to select the additional 3rd and 4th colors.
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Friday, October 12, 2012

Photoshop Tuto Introduction To Layer Masks

Introduction To Layer Masks

Introduction To Layer Masks

This tutorial will help you learn how to use layer masks to enhance your photos. Layer masks are a non-destructive method for altering images. You can boost color, selectively sharpen, color isolate and MORE, all using a layer mask. If you make a mistake, you can simply paint back over the area on the mask to reveal the original photo as you’ll see in this tutorial.
First open up your image that you would like to make some changes to. For the sake of this tutorial, I will simply show you how to boost the exposure in one area of an image while leaving the rest unchanged. But really, you can make any adjustment to this duplicate layer that you want and then mask it off as you will soon see. Once your photo is open, duplicate the original layer by right-clicking in the layers palette and choosing ..Duplicate Layer.

Introduction To Layer Masks

On the background copy layer, we will make the adjustment. As stated before, I will make an exposure adjustment. The original has a bit of a dark shadow on the one side of his face which I want to lighten up a bit. In the layers palette, click on the background copy layer. Then make your adjustment by either using a levels adjustment or a curves adjustment until you are satisfied with the area that needed improving. Don’t worry about what the rest of the image looks like. Just look at the area that needs fixing. You will now have the original photo layer on the bottom and the background copy layer is your new adjustment layer. Now you can add a layer mask to the background copy layer. To do this, go to the bottom of your layers palette and click on the 3rd icon from the left. You will now see a white box appear to the right of your background copy layer.

Introduction To Layer Masks

In order to apply the exposure adjustment fix only to one area of your image, you need to INVERT the mask. To do that, first click your mouse on the mask to select it and then press CONTROL-I to invert the mask. The mask will now look black and you will only be able to see your original image when looking at your workspace.
Now this is where the fun begins. You will need to get a white paint brush, make it 50% soft, and adjust the size to work with your photo. I find that I usually start with a really big brush to work on the largest area of the photo, and then switch to a smaller brush when I’m working on the very edge of the area that is being adjusted. To view your brushes, click on the brush tool in the tool bar on the left side of your screen. It will be right above the paint bucket. To change the brush size and hardness, go to the Options Bar at the top of your screen and click on the drop-down arrow next to the brush icon. Now you can view all brushes you have. Select one that has a soft edge like the one shown here as 17. Then you can click on the SIZE and increase or decrease the number shown to suit your image.

Introduction To Layer Masks

When working with a black (inverted) layer mask, you need to use white paint in order to show the effect. So using a white paintbrush will act like a tool to apply the exposure adjustment in the background copy layer. If you apply too much of the adjustment or find that you over compensated, you can fix it quickly by switching your paint color to black and painting back on the mask. To switch between your black and white paints, go down to the paint picker at the bottom left corner of your screen. Just click on the double-arrow to switch from black to white and back again. It will look like this:

Introduction To Layer Masks

Now you can begin to paint on the adjustment effect. Use white paint and a soft brush.
Then click on the black mask and begin painting on the areas you want to adjust. I am brushing over the right side of his face where the shadow is rather dark so that I can lighten it up a bit.

Introduction To Layer Masks

The area that I have drawn the circle around is the area that I felt was a little too dark. So I brushed over the mask in that area only to reveal the lighter version as shown on the right.
As you can see, the mask will start to show in white wherever you painted.

Introduction To Layer Masks

Now it’s best to get your magnifying glass and zoom in really close to the edge so that you can have a nice clean edge. The zoom tool is at the top of your tool box in the upper left corner of your screen – it’s right below the arrow tool. Once you are nice and close, change the brush size to something smaller. I changed mine to 19 pixels and started painting away very carefully along the edge.
Here is the final result. Notice how the effect was only applied to the right side of his face and everything else was left untouched. This is the beauty of using a layer mask for any type of adjustment effect.
Introduction To Layer Masks

When you are all done, save your layered image as a PSD file so that you can go back and edit it some more if you want. If it is done, you can merge them together and save as a JPG file for printing.

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Design Tuto Installiong Action In Photoshop Elements

Installiong Action In Photoshop Elements

INSTALLING ACTIONS IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

It is important to note that not all actions will work in Elements. The reason is that actions cannot be created in Elements. They can only be created in versions 7 and higher. Because of this, some of the functions that are available in the higher versions (such as levels and curves) are not available in all versions of PS Elements. Also, PS Elements has the placement of some of the same functions in a different spot than in the higher versions. So before you spend any money on buying action sets, it is best to inquire if the actions will even work in PS Elements.

LOADING ACTIONS IN PS ELEMENTS 2, 3 and 4:

1. If Elements is open, please close it.
2. Place the entire action folder into your PSE effects folder. It will look like: c:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 3.0\Previews\Effects Folder
3. To reset your action list and add the new effect you just installed, you will first need to delete the files named:
CategoryCache.che
ListCache.che
ThumbNailCache.che
You must delete these from both the Effects Cache subfolder and the Filters Cache subfolder.
4. Now you can launch the Elements program. Click on the Styles & Effects palette. Then click on Effects. You will see it building the image of the action you just installed.
5. Your actions are now ready to use.

INSTALLING ACTIONS IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 5

Just bung them into C:\documents and settings\all users\application data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\5.0\Photo Creations\Special Effects\Photo Effects. You may need to experiment a
little with folders/no folders in there. No cache deletion needed now. (Just so you know, the "application data" part of this path is hidden. I actually had to type the pathname into my file browser. You can't just point and click to get there.) Rename each of the thumbnail images (.psd files) to thumbs.psd so that your thumbnail image will show up in your effects palette.

USING ACTIONS IN PHOTOSOP ELEMENTS 2, 3, 4 and 5:

1. Open up the photo you want to enhance.
2. Make a duplicate copy of your photo and turn off the bottom layer (this is in case you don't like the action effect - you can just discard the top layer and resume with the original).
3. Select the top photo.
4. Go to your "Styles and Effects" window and set it to show "Effects" and "All". You should see the icon for the effect you just installed. It will be a copy of the PSD file included in the folder here.
5. Double click it.
6. Voila!!
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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Adding Texture to Your Image For Photoshop

Adding Texture to Your Image For Photoshop CS

Adding Texture to Your Image For Photoshop
Adding texture can bring your images to a different level, adding interest, depth, and a bit of artistic quality to them. Photoshop comes preloaded with lots of different textures to choose from, or you can take your own images and use them for textures in much the same way. There are a few different ways to add texture, but I’m just going to show you one way for now.
First, open up the image you want to alter. Resize the image to whatever works for you. If you are printing your image, be sure to size it at 300 dpi to get good overall print quality. I’m working with a stock photo that I popped the color on a bit. I recommend doing all of your exposure and color compensations first, then doing the texture last.
With your image open, go up to the options bar and click on LAYER > NEW FILL LAYER > PATTERN.

Adding Texture to Your Image For Photoshop
A window will open up saying “New Layer”. Just go ahead and click OK.

Adding Texture to Your Image For Photoshop

Now another pop-up window will open and you will see a pattern placed over the top of your image. Grab the drop-down menu on the left and select the pattern you want to use. I’m choosing canvas which is a default texture that comes preloaded in PhotoShop.

Adding Texture to Your Image For Photoshop

At this point, you can make the pattern bigger or smaller by increasing the percentage on the SCALE section within this same window. I’m just going to leave mine set to the default of 100% and then click OK.

Now you need to go to your layers palette and change the blending mode.

Adding Texture to Your Image For Photoshop
Since each pattern you choose will affect your photos differently, I recommend scrolling through all of the blending modes til you find the one you like best. For this image, I am using to use the HARD LIGHT blending mode. But you may prefer soft light or overlay, or one of the many others there are to choose from.
As you can see in the sample above, the texture is very intense. I think it is way too much for my personal taste, so I’m going to reduce the opacity of the Pattern Fill 1 layer to 50%. As you can see, it is much softer looking now.
Adding Texture to Your Image For Photoshop


When you are all done, simply merge the layers together and save it as a new document. Here is my final before and after of this image with the canvas texture. Have fun playing!!

Adding Texture to Your Image For Photoshop



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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Tutorial Change Eye Color For Photoshop

Change Eye Color For Photoshop Tutorial

This tutorial will teach you how to change the color of your subject’s eyes (or shirt, or hair, etc.). This tutorial is done in PhotoShop CS2, but it should be fairly compatible to any of the PhotoShop programs, including PS Elements. First, select the image you want to alter and open it up. Here’s my starting image:

Change Eye Color For Photoshop
As always, in Photoshop there are several ways to accomplish the task. You could use a quick mask on the area you wish to adjust the color, or you can use an inverted layer mask, or you can do it some other way I’m sure. LOL I’m going to show you using an inverted layer mask. So, let’s first create the color adjustment layer. Go to your layers palette and click on the half-moon icon at the bottom of the palette, and then choose Hue/Saturation.

Change Eye Color For Photoshop

A new window will pop open giving you the option to change the hue, saturation, and lightness. Slide the HUE adjustment to the left or right until you find a color that you like. If it is too bright, you can lower the saturation by moving that slider to the left. If it is too dark or light, you can then slide the lightness slider (left makes it darker, right makes it lighter).

Don’t freak out when you see your entire image changing color. Just pay attention to what the eyes look like. As you can see below, I changed this one to green eyes.

Change Eye Color For Photoshop

Now we will invert the layer mask that is located to the right of the hue/adjustment layer. It’s that white box linked to the layer.

Change Eye Color For Photoshop

To invert it, press CONTROL-I on your keyboard. The mask will now be black and your image will look normal again. The reason we’re doing this is so that we can “paint on” the color change only where we want it.

Change Eye Color For Photoshop

When working with layer masks, you need to paint in black and white only. If your mask is white, the paint you need to use is black. If your mask is black, then you need to paint with white. We are using the mask to reveal the color change only on the eyes (or wherever you decide you need it).

So go to your tool box and make your foreground color white. You can reset the colors by clicking on the mini image


Now you will need to get your paint brush and adjust the size to fit your image. The paint brush is located in the tool box. Once you choose a brush, you can then click on the little black arrow up in the options bar at the top of the screen and adjust the size and softness of the brush.

Change Eye Color For Photoshop

Now go back to your layers palette and make sure your black inverted mask is selected by clicking directly on the mask. Then go to your image, zoom in closely on the first eye and begin painting with white paint on the colored portion of the eyes. You will be revealing the new eye color as you paint.

Change Eye Color For Photoshop

If you make a mistake and paint outside the eye area, you can simply change your paint color to black and paint back over the mistake to reveal the correct color.
When you are done with the first eye, move to the other eye and repeat the painting with the white paint color and soft brush. Here is my before and after:

Change Eye Color For Photoshop

Thanx..
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