Photoshop Software...Get More Done with Photoshop

by: DavidPeters
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A fun idea to do is create an abstract picture, you can do anything you want to it. One fun idea is the add a fire look to a picture, here is a step by step way to do it: First thing's first, get a nice stock photo. I used a stock photo of an eye from deviant ART.First of all I opened the photo and resized it to 75% of it's original size. 1. After you've opened your photo up, duplicate the background layer then apply Filter > Distort > Twirl and use the default setting. That should have just distorted it slightly. Now change the layer mode for your duplicated layer to Lighten. That will have made the eye look a little bit alien-like. 2. Now brighten up the picture a little bit by adding in a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast...) Now this is the part where you choose the fiery color for your photo. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map. I changed the layer mode for this layer to Linear Light and lowered the opacity to 85%. 3.Ok, here are some nice optional effects.Before adding effects like these, you'll probably need to flatten your image (Layer > Flatten Image) then duplicate the one remaining layer. First, I applied Filter > Artistic > Rough Pastels with the default settings. Now change the layer mode for this layer to Lighten and maybe lower the opacity if you see it need sit. I lowered the opacity to 70%. 4. To finish this tutorial off, I flattened all the layers, applied Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen, faded the sharpen to about 40% (Edit > Fade) then I added in a little bit of tech and grunge.

A useful tool in photoshop basics is how to clone. Cloning can be important when you want to know how to take something off of one picture and putting it onto another. When you are cloning you can do anything you want to. You can put someone in a different place, create a "clone of them" Anything you do is quite simple, here is a step by step tutorial on how to do it. 1.Click CLONE TOOL in toolbar 2.Click right click and set HARDNESS to 40. 3.Click what you want clone and hold. Hold mouse and press ALT. 4.Hold and move mouse where you want clone.

Using photoshop you can create some pretty awesome effects with pictures alone. Here is a step by step guide to show you how to blend and create a smooth waterfall. With your image open in Photoshop, grab your Lasso tool from the Tools palette: Select the Lasso tool from the Tools palette.You can also press the letter L on your keyboard to quickly select it.Then, with the Lasso tool selected, drag a selection around your waterfall. It doesn't have to be surgically precise, but try not to stray too far from the edges of the waterfall: Use the Lasso tool to drag a selection around the waterfall.If you need help with making selections, check out our tutorial Unlock The Full Power Of Basic Selections. Copy the Selection Onto Its Own Layer. With the waterfall selected, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J (Windows) / Command+J (Mac) to copy it onto its own layer above the Background layer. You won't see anything happen in the Document Window, but if you look in the Layers palette, you'll see the waterfall on a new layer: Press "Ctrl+J" (Windows) / "Command+J" (Mac) to copy the waterfall onto a new layer.Step 3: Apply The Motion Blur Filter To The New Layer With our waterfall now copied to its own layer, we can create our "silky smooth" effect by applying the "Motion Blur" filter to it. To do that, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, select Blur, and then select Motion Blur. This brings up the Motion Blur dialog box:mPhotoshop's "Motion Blur" dialog box. Adjust the Angle of the blur so it matches the angle at which the water is falling. In most cases, this would be 90, since water would normally fall straight down. In my case, since the water is rushing so quickly over the edge, it's actually falling at a bit of an angle, so I've set my blur angle to -77. The easiest way to match your blur angle to the water is to click inside the Angle value box and then increase or decrease the value one degree at a time using the up or down arrow keys on your keyboard, which is what I've done. Once you've set the correct angle, drag the Distance slider at the bottom until your waterfall looks nice and silky. I've dragged mine to a value of 73 pixels, which gives me a nice effect. The image after applying Motion Blur.

While you are running though photos you may find one that you absolutely hate because of the acne, well there is a way to cure that by touching up your photo. First open your photo which you want to cure the acne on. Next, click on your "Healing Brush Tool" and set your brush to the size of 5px for this tutorial. When selecting your brush size, set your "Hardness" to 100% and your "Spacing" to 25%. Now press Alt+Click The Mouse over a non-blemished area and then clicked over the blemished area to replace it. To clear up areas where two distinct colors of acne are near, set your "Hardness" to 66% so you can blend the areas more naturally. Next, click on Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation to balance the colors. I increased the Hue slider by 12 points to even out the reddish blemishes.

The photo retouching technique liquefying, can take a while especially if it is a image. It doesn't help your computer isn't powerful. I've found a great way to improve the operations. If we will work not with the whole image but with the part of it the processing can be done more quickly. 1. Select the area for further retouching but rectangle tool: 2. Copy the area: ctrl+c 3. Create a new document and paste the area with the combinations of hotkeys: ctrl+n, ctrl+v 4. Open 'Liquefy' filter menu: 5. Make the changes. Click 'Ok' 6. Select corrected area: ctrl+a 7. Copy corrected area: ctrl+c 8. Go back to the original document 9. Paste the corrected area into original document (you may wish to place it on a new layer):

A fun thing to do with patterns is to create rain. Learning how to add rain to any image is quite easy. Start by opening the image you would like to add the effect of rain to. Then create a new layer and fill it with white colour. Now go to Filter-> Noise -> Add noise. Then apply motion blur with the angle you would like to have your rain falling and change the blending option to screen. Now press ctrl + M and change the curve from the middle acc. to the intensity of the rain.

Want to create a web 2.0 label? This is easy enough just follow the steps: Step 1) Create your canvas, I suggest a large size so you create lots of detail, the final image can be scaled down later. Step 2) The next step is to draw your shape, this can be any shape. Use the preset shapes in Photoshop or download some new ones off the internet. It doesn't matter what colour it is. Step 3) Next apply a layer style to the shape, I recommend using the Web 2.0 layers and gradients pack, here. Although you can make your own. Step 4) As well as this I suggest using a bevel and emboss. Use are large size and reduce the opacity of the shadow. Step 5) Add you text. I've used Trebuchet MS. Use the character palette to move the letters into a good looking spacing. Step 6) Again, use one of the white layer styles in the pack and apply this to the white text. Step 7) You now have a cool looking Web 2.0 label to add to your web pages. Step 8) One optional step that I suggest adding is a drop shadow, this adds a lifted effect to the label. Step 9) Flatten and remove the background and save as a .png. This can now be added to any web page.

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