Photoshop Tutorials

[KC]

Tutorial #1 - Action Cam

This is one of the more easier things I make. This is a blur effect I do to touch up various pictures I use around the board. Kind of like this:



This is easy and quick. Once you figure out what you're doing, making this takes about 5 minutes at the most.

First thing you want to do is dig up a YouTube video of what you're looking for. Get to the point of the video you want to work on, printscreen, and bring the picture into Photoshop just like you would in Paint.

You should have something like this.

i34.tinypic.com/30wmhzd.jpg

What we need to do now is crop this picture down to get rid of all the useless shit we don't need. To use this, we use the crop tool. It looks like this:



The tool is pretty easy to use, just simply drag the marquee over the area you want to keep in the image. The highlighted portion of the picture stays, the shaded part of the picture goes. We want something like this:

i35.tinypic.com/2rot8yb.jpg

Simply double-click inside the crop and it'll be cut down to this

Notice the % on the top of the current canvas. 50% means that this is only half the size the image actually is. Use ctrl + + and ctrl + - to zoom in and zoom out. With large images, Photoshop usually autosize zooms out so we can see the entire image. With the actual size being like this:

i37.tinypic.com/2hxt5hi.jpg

We can see that this is a bit too big. So now we're going to mess with the image dimensions. On the top toolbar, you'll see a dropdown for "Image". On that dropdown, we'll go to Image Size.

i36.tinypic.com/x3cm78.jpg
(Nevermind the window I have open in PS, it's a screenshot of the previous image)

A dialog box should open up. There are three things that we should be concerned about in this box. I'll highlight them:

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We need to work with the Pixel Dimensions. Make sure that the dropdown box for both width and height is in pixels. If it's something else, just use the dropdown box to get pixels. The other thing we need to make sure is that "Constrain Proportions" is checkmarked. With that handy little box, we don't have to worry about doing math to make sure everything is proportionate, it'll automatically do that for us.

Now let's just play around with the settings here. First, I tried 120x90

i36.tinypic.com/2s1t3kg.jpg

As you can see, it's a bit small. So let's go back to the original size. Whenever you make a mistake with adjusting an images size, never remedy it by using the image size tool. Simply press ctrl + shift+ z to step backwards and it'll go back to it's original size. If you use the image size tool to blow something back up, it'll become very fuzzy.

i33.tinypic.com/15droef.jpg

Here's a more appropriate size, I made the width 350.

i33.tinypic.com/15droef.jpg

Now we'll move over to the Layer box. This is the box on the lower right. This contains all the layers in the current image. There should be two layers there - background and Layer 1. Layer 1 should have a thumbnail of our image. Click it and press ctrl + j. This will duplicate the layer.

This allows us to manipulate the lighting of the picture without making it transparent.

i37.tinypic.com/oibr7b.jpg

Before we do that, we need to add the blur effect. Go to filter -> blur -> Gaussian blur

i33.tinypic.com/2zh2r6g.jpg

This will open a dialog box. You can make the radius 0-250, this determines how strong the effect is. You can experiment with whatever you want. I personally use 9.

i38.tinypic.com/24axrx5.jpg

Press OK and your picture will be blurred beyond recognition. But, this is why duplicating your images is important. The bottom image remains unchanged and solid. So we'll now play around with the lighting on the blurred layer. You'll notice a dropdown on the layer box that says "Normal". Click that and you'll see a ton of different lighting options as such:

i37.tinypic.com/2hfonra.jpg

Play around with them all. Some work better than others on different pictures. I personally switch between overlay, soft light, and hard light. I stuck with hard light on this picture and ended up with this:

i35.tinypic.com/28upqqa.jpg

Now let's finish this off. Last thing we need to do with virtually every piece we make is a border. To start off, we need a new layer to work off of. Press the button I highlighted here:

i36.tinypic.com/2me6emq.jpg

Now press ctrl+a. This will highlight the perimeter of the image. Now go to edit -> stroke.

i34.tinypic.com/jsbo1f.jpg

We're going to be making a 3-pixel border. To start, we choose a simply any color we desire and make the pixels 3.

i35.tinypic.com/149q9k.jpg

Sometimes, this is good enough. But I like to sandwich a color inbetween sometimes.

To do this, just repeat the process, but this time put another color (usually white or black) and put 2 pixels. Repeat the process again, but with the original color (in this case, red) with 1 pixel. Once finished, press ctrl + d to deselect. Save, upload to your favorite pic host and see your finished product:

[Jen Johnson]

Ill attempt this after school.

[KC]

Tutorial #2 - Text

Adding text is quite easy once you get the hang of it, but getting the jist can be tricky if you don't know what you're doing.

First note - text is usually one of the last things you want to add to a graphic right next to border. Always make sure that the text is the top layer in the graphic.

But for this example, we'll just add text to a regular image that I can just get off google.

So first things first, let's pull our image into Photoshop.

i35.tinypic.com/nnuq2e.jpg

Now over on the tool box, highlight the text button. This is the "T" button as shown here:



Over on top is our settings for the text. This is the place where you want to set up what it'll look like. The first drop down selects the text. The second dropdown selects different variables such as bold, italics, underline, etc. The third dropdown determines size. While it only has a few listed, you can input any size by typing it in the box. The fourth dropdown determines the type of edging the text has. The three boxes of lines determines the alignment. And the color box determines the color.

Set the settings anyway you want. This is how I have mine:



Now click on the image at the point you want the text to begin. Don't worry about being exact, you can go back and edit it's exact placement later.

Input whatever you want on the image.



Looking this over, the size is a bit small for my taste so let's edit this. To edit text that is already on the canvas, keep the text tool on and hover over the text layer. Highlight it and play with the settings on the top. The text that is highlighted should change as

Now I want to move the text to the center of the image. To do this, let's select the drag tool. It looks like this:



Make sure the text layer is selected in the layer box and hover the drag tool over the text. Click and drag and you'll be able to move it anywhere in the image.

Sometimes when moving text around, it may "snap" to the edge if you move it close. If it's doing this and you don't want it to, turn snap off. It should be in the "View" dropdown on the top.

i34.tinypic.com/24vpkc9.jpg

Now in some cases, you can be done right here.

But, if you want to stylize it some more, here are some ways. First, perhaps we would like to put the text at an angle. To do this, make sure the text layer is selected in the layer box and press ctrl + t. This will open up "Free Transform" which will allow you to manipulate the text into all sorts of angles, shapes, and sizes.

A dotted box will now appear outside the text with six anchor squares to stretch the text out.

i37.tinypic.com/6hrz7p.jpg

Aim towards a bottom corner and try to get the cursor to make a small "u" shape. Once the cursor shows this, click and drag the mouse upwards. The text will begin to go on a slant. Play around until you get something you like.

This will likely move some of the text out of position so just use the drag tool to get back into a section you like again.

i38.tinypic.com/35db8za.jpg

After all that, you can still edit the text if you want to make any other changes. And if you want to, make sure you do this now as the next step will prohibit any further edits.

i36.tinypic.com/30dav61.jpg

Now, let's add a border to this text. This is also optional but it does work very well for some images.

The first step is to "rasterize" the text layer. This will make it identical to a typical picture layer, but that will stop you from being able to edit what the text says or looks like.

i35.tinypic.com/ek3nlt.jpg

Adding a border is almost like before, except you do NOT have to press ctrl + a to select all. When you have the now rasterized text layer selected, go straight to edit -> stroke. Play with it however you want, but make sure that outside is selected.

i34.tinypic.com/5jz7tl.jpg

As with any piece, last thing to do is to look it over and touch up anything that may not look right. I have a few dark edges from a former border, so I will crop that out. I'm also going to add a small blur effect and add a border to the actual image.