Photoshop tips and tricks.

[Daave]

Quite helpful tips, thanks for sharing.

[jennydesouza]

I used Pen tool...Need more Sharping and accuracy .

[Dreamrage]

Originally Posted by Daave

Quite helpful tips, thanks for sharing.

Thank you Daave, which part of the tutorials have helped you the most? It helps me to see where I need to focus on more and also helps me work out what next to write about.

Originally Posted by jennydesouza

I used Pen tool...Need more Sharping and accuracy .

hmm Jenny, did you have problems with the curves of the hand using the tool? When you use the pen tool, you will see that it creates points on the image, these points can be manipulated but putting the mouse on one of the points, and dragging it slightly in the direction of the curve. If that doesn't work out perfectly, you could also decrease the amount of space between each point when you get to a curvy part of the hand.



If you look to the left of the ribbon, the areas that point outwards, was created using the technique. the rounded corners on the right were used using the second method of keeping the pen points close together. (I watermarked it because I am still busy with the ribbon design).

Hope this helps

[jennydesouza]

Ya io tried..But it do not seem like curves..Some times they make angles

[Dreamrage]

Working with the pen tool and creating angles are terribly hard to do. I have sat for hours screaming because the tool won't work on the curve its meant to. Sometimes, its just a case of patience and persistence.

Do you use a tablet mouse? or a regular mouse?

[jennydesouza]

Hmmm... I am using regular mouse

[Daave]

I liked reading every bit of it. Though I am not a perfect but I have a lot of interest in Designing...

[Dreamrage]

Originally Posted by jennydesouza

Hmmm... I am using regular mouse

Using a mouse when trying to work with the curves in the pen tool can be really hard. I use a tablet mouse with a pen, and it helps when it comes to controlling the curve.

With practice, and enlarging your screen (using control and +) it helps you to move the point a smaller amount at a time, you should be able to create perfect curves.

Daave, when I started out, I was far from perfect, but that design bug bites and doesn't let go easily. but I read through everything I could get my hands on, worked through tutorials etc. and it really helped a lot.

It can help you perfect your own personal style, like it did my art.

[jennydesouza]

But still its take too much time


[REMINDER: Intentionally misleading "location" info will result in an immediate and permanent ban.]

[Dreamrage]

It will at first, while you get used to using the tool. The amount of precision it give you when using it is second to none. After using it for a while though, you will quickly adapt to it and use it faster than you did when you started off.

[PAelectricity]

How to sharpen the edges of photo that is cut by lasso tool?

[Dreamrage]

Hmm... I don't really use the lasso tool to cut images, but I researched a bit and found this for you : The lasso tool. I hope it helps. It has tips about feathering etc. as well.

[Dreamrage]

It is actually a lot easier than you think. There are many ways to remove an image from its original background so that it can be placed on a new background.

I have one tried and trusted way, that I rarely deviate from, but there are at least three other ways you can remove or "cut" an image out of a background.

My technique, is to use the pen tool and create points around the image I want to remove, when the points come full circle, I right click and click on make selection, choose not to feather, and click ok. This then gives me the marching ants all around the image. then, by either pressing v for the move tool, or m for the marquis tool, I hover my mouse over the image selected and press control and c, move over to the new background and press control and v. quick and easy

Another way, is to have the new background below the image you want to use, (double click on the image you want to use if it's locked and you can then edit it afterwards) you then apply a layer mask to the image. You can do this either by going to layers -> add layer mask -> reveal all. OR, the fastest way would be to look on your layers tab, if you hover your mouse over the small icons at the bottom, (the square with the small circle) you'll find the layer mask.

From there it's relatively easy, but it still calls for some precision work. When you create the layer mask, you will see that your foreground and background colors change to black and white. You then need your brushes, in various sizes. Test on the image corner whether or not you would use black or white. The correct color will make the background below the image come through, and it will look like your erasing instead of painting. When deciding on a brush size, make sure you take a look at the hardness of the brush. I find that setting it to 50% looks better when you're working on hair because the soft edges of the brush do not completely "erase" the hair, which makes your image look more natural. Using a more solid "hardness" around the rest like the body and clothes, gives you the solid lines you need to ensure the image looks natural when you're done.

The next method is slightly less complicated, but still tricky if you're new to Photoshop and its tools. Its called extraction. You can read about it here at adobe : Extraction using CS4. I am not all too familiar with the technique, so I thought this bit of info would be more useful to you.

The last method I know of, is simply using erasers of different opacity, size and hardness, and plugging away at the image until you have successfully removed the image from its background.

Any one else know of other ways?

[Dreamrage]

I want to share with you a quick and easy method of merging layers. I had a hard time remembering to do this all the time, but I have realized that with the PS I m currently using, this method not only helps with merging, but helps you move more layers at a time, either to new positions, into group folders, or even to the bin ...

Here's what you do. If you have created many layers and want to merge them, click on the first (top) layer you want to merge, hold shift, and then click on the last (bottom) layer you would like to merge.

Photoshop automatically selects all the layers in between for you. You can then press control and e to merge them, move them around in the layer tabs, or drag em straight to the bin.

[Dreamrage]

Hmm, is there one specific area you're stuck with?

The process basically involves creating your image, and then selecting where you would like your light source to come from. When you have decided that, you start creating the "rays" by creating bars of white light over the image and changing the opacity of the layer, you then add a gaussian blur to the light source to remove the straight lines. If you need sharper light, you then duplicate the light layer, change its opacity as well, adn add another blur if needed.

You then work on the image you are trying to shed the light on, working on the shadows and highlights using the dodge and burn tools in photoshop.

[Frazier]

nice tips provided by Dreamrage, i learn't lots of things from you which i didn't know.

i want one help from you, i need to know how we create a glow effect for any object like i want to learn glass effect. need to know tips about this.

hope it will easy for you

[Dreamrage]

Thank you frazier. I am glad you liked the tips I gave here. Glow is relatively easy. it just depends on what you would like to add the glow to. Let's use the moon as an example. If you take a .png of the moon, (a jpg will do, but more than likely a png will only have the moon and a transparent background) and duplicate the layer in Photoshop. It creates a better effect when you add the glow to the moon later.

On the bottom moon layer, you apply an outer glow. Be careful with distance and spread and make sure you don't add noise, or the moon's glow will be blotchy. Work with the sliders on outer glow until you are happy. Then, because you have added layer styles to the moon, create a blank layer below the moon and highlight the glowing moon. Press control and E to merge the two layers (i.e the blank one and the glowing moon) and you will have a normal layer, but the styles will stay the same. Then click on the original moon layer and merge it with the glowing moon, and there you have it.

It's easier to merge layers that have styles on them when these layers have been merged with a blank layer. If you tried to merge layers and there are still active layer styles, the layer you merge with it will also have the same layer style applied to it.

To create glass is actually quite simple. What I generally do is create a shape using the rectangle tool. I then double click on the layer icon to open the blending options and take the fill to 0. I add a bevel and emboss, and a gradient overlay using white to transparent, and work on the gradient overlay's opacity and layer style. You will then see the glass take shape. You can also use a color overlay, and then play around with the color opacity and layer style, and this would give you colored glass.

To make it look more realistic, if the glass layer is above a background, is that you can use filters to bulge sections of the background slightly, so it gives you the impression that you would get if you were looking through natural glass.



This is a background I made for my iPhone a while back. I added water splashes to it. (lol the background is called water on glass). It was made in a similar way to the way I described to you.

[kateson]

Useful tips shared by you thanks ..!! Photoshop is the best software to do graphic design

[simplyamazing12]

With the new CS6 beta out, has anyone tried the new shallow depth of field tool?

[Dreamrage]

Hmmmm no, it sounds interesting though will definitely have to check it out. Have you played around with it yet? Would love some feedback about it.