Photo Manipulation

1. Here’s the starting photo. A church in my neighborhood, surrounded by lush trees.

2. I’ve created a Set with the original photo called ‘autumn’.
I then duplicated it and positioned the copy version below the original in the layer stack.

Next, right-click on the original photo layer and choose ‘Blending Options’ as I have captured below.

3. In the main ‘Blending Options’ panel change the ‘Blend If’ default Grey to ‘Blue’ and then drag the far right ‘Underlying Layer’ slider to the left as I have captured below.

4. Next, from the ‘Color Overlay’ blending option change to a color that best represents autumn leaves. (I used #F17F04) and change the ‘Blending Mode’ to ‘Hue’ as I have captured below.

Here’s the final result.

Flaming text effect

So let’s start with a new document of 3300 px width and 2336 px height at 300 resolutions. I created large document because I wanted to print it on A4 size.

Press U and select rectangle tool and create a rectangle of document size and apply gradient overlay with colors 890000 & ffb400. Now select transform tool and increase rectangle size from document size to 4515 px width and 3196px height.

Duplicate the rectangle and apply 10% transparency with normal mode. Your gradient will automatically transform and results will be like this.

Now select type tool and write letter “H”. Font is your choice but I used here font Akashi of 180 pt weight. Go to the layer style option and reduce the Fill Opacity to zero in Advanced Blending. Now apply these layer styles.

Gradient overlay: color c00000 & ec7272

Inner glow: color fba8a8, opacity 76%, blending mode screen.

Inner shadow: color ffc7c7, 65% opacity and size 13px.

Now duplicate the letter H and name it emboss. Remove all layer style and fill opacity to 100%. Shift it slightly right and down to give it emboss look. Now ctrl + click on text layer “H” and press delete to remove unwanted area.

Ctrl + click emboss layer, right click and click on “Make Work Path”. Now select direct selection tool by pressing A and select anchor points. Adjust them and fill it with color d90000 to give it a real 3d look.

Now isolate all the faces of emboss layer like right face, bottom faces, and apply these layer style.

Apply layer style same as in step 5 here.

Now select the bottom of letter H and apply gradient overlay same as in step 5 with 90 degree angle.

Repeat step 3,4,5,6 & 7 in letter O and T. The result will look like this.

Merge all layers of text HOT and name it hot. Change its blending mode to overlay. Duplicate the HOT layer and change blending mode to darken name it HOT 1. Duplicate this HOT1 layer.

Ctrl + click HOT1 layer, select a soft brush of color black and size 100 px and paint the shadow of text considering the source of light on top left. Change its opacity to 10% and blending mode to multiply.

Now ctrl + click letter H, O, and T and save this selection to HOT and apply layer mask. Create new layer & name it shadow, load selection HOT and fill it with black color. Apply motion blur of -36 degree and decrease its opacity to 25% with multiply mode.

Copy HOT layer and change its blending mode to dissolve. Create a new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer with setting; Hue 6, Saturation 3, Lightness 0. Create clip mask by pressing alt + click on between the adjustment layer & HOT layer.

Duplicate HOT layer again and keep it on top go to Filter gallery choose Reticulation filter with these settings:

Density: 3
Foreground Level: 40
Background Level: 5

Change its blending mode to soft light. Name it R filter.

Looks good! Now select brush of 15 px size and 100% hardness, press F5 to access brush option and increase size jitter to 100% on Shape Dynamics. On the scattering option keep scatter 90%. Now click layer mask button bottom to layer pallet. Click on the layer mask, choose black color and hide the area where we’ll burn it.

Create a level adjustment layer below R filter layer with these settings.

Click on layer mask, press ctrl + I. It will mask everything; now select a soft brush of size 20, color white, and opacity 70% and paint around hidden areas of R filter layer. Now ctrl + click on R filter layer and hide selected area. The result will look like this.

Add layer mask to HOT layer and hide the area outside burned texture. This will give a warmer feel to the text inside burning texture.

It’s time to add some fire on it. Drag images into document and change color mode to screen and duplicate image twice to get desired result.

We’re near to complete. Now it’s time to add some finishing. Create a new layer select gradient tool and use colors cb0b0b, f89d9d and f2acac. Add noise of 3px, monochromatic, distribution Gaussian. Keep color mode to multiply. Add layer mask and mask areas around text HOT by a smooth brush.

Create a level adjustment layer with these settings. Now we are facing a problem that is letter H & O is darker then T. To fix this problem add layer mask and hide area of H & O by painting soft 70% opacity brush.

Create curve adjustment layer with input 84 and output 100.

Now create another level adjustment layer with these settings and name it level 2.

Nearly finished the whole effect but not looking very impressive right? Ok, apply layer mask to “level 2” adjustment layer, select large soft brush with color black and hide the area around fire. This will add life to the scene because we added fire’s light refracted on text and texture.

That’s the tutorial finished! I hope you’ve enjoyed it and learns something useful. Click on the image below if you would like to view the full sized final image:

That’s all friends!

Beautiful Fantasy Eyes

Today we shall explore the basics on how we can create Fantasy Eyes effects in Photo shop.

Now Download the image and open up in Photo shop.

Let us start off with glowing the eyes. Make selections around the 2 black eyes with the Elliptical Marquee tool. Go to Select > Modify > Feather. Set the Radius to 20px.

Press Ctrl+C (to copy) and Ctrl+V (to paste). You will get a new layer with just the selected area. Rename this new layer as “Eyes Glow”. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Screen. Then duplicate the “Eyes Glow” layer for another 3 times and you will get something similar to mine below.

Create a Curves Adjustment Layer. Go to the Green and Blue channels and set the curves to the ones below.

Create a Levels Adjustment Layer and set the values to 20, 0.84, 255.

Create a new layer and name it as “Face Color”. Set the foreground color to #45ADCA. Using the Soft Rounded Brush with size 200px, paint the face below both eyes. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Soft Light when you are done.

Open up the Brush panel and key in the settings as shown below.

Create a new layer and name it as “Glitter”. Using the Brush tool with size 3px and color #FFFFFF, brush around the bluish area to add the glittering effect. Right-click on the “Glitter” layer and go to Blending Options. Choose Outer Glow with its default settings.

Repeat the earlier step for the border around the big pair of eyes.

This step is really random. You can start designing how you want to add some patterns to the face. For mine, I downloaded the Swirl Curls from CreateSk8. Place the floral patterns around the eyes area.

Merge all the pattern together in a single area. Go to Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation. Make the Lightness to -100. This will turn the pattern in to black. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Soft Light. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 2px.

Create an Exposure Adjustment Layer and key in the settings below.

Create a Levels Adjustment Layer and set the values to 15, 1, 255.

And there you have it! Thanks for reading.

TAGS: Photoshop, Photoshop tips

Realistic View Tears on Face

In this Photoshop tutorial I would like to invite your attention to the unique technique how to make realistic view tears effect.

So, in the beginning you should find a good picture to work with. You can try to find it on stock photo web sites or also can use mine. Open up the picture. Then select the Pen Tool and try to make good form of the tear with black color.

Pay your attention that the form must be how much more uneven to be similar to a real tear. When we are done with form, then change layer mode to Screen for the current layer and apply following Blending Options:

• Drop Shadow
• Inner Shadow
• Inner Glow
• Bevel and Emboss
• Gradient Overlay

The result should be next:

Looks good, but not so realistic for now. I would like to bring some white glare to this form. Select the Pencil Tool and brush about 1 pixel, then make a few dots with white color on the new layer like on my picture below.

After that apply Blur Tool to current layer.

We got a nice realistic view result isn’t it? Don’t be afraid to experiment and you will get your own cool effects!

TAGS: Photoshop, Photoshop tips

Papercraft Text Effect

Go to FILE > NEW… and create a new 600px 200px document with a white background. Check the image below if you are unsure about the settings.

Now let´s create the gradient for the background. In actuality, this is the gradient that we will be using for the text effect. It simply looked nice as the background too. 1 – Select the Gradient tool. 2 – Click on the gradient and the gradient editor window will open.

1 – Create the new gradient using the settings in image below.
2 – Click on the NEW button and give it a recognizable name.
3 – The new gradient will appear on the gradients library.

Select the gradient tool and then from the gradients pull down menu (1), choose the gradient we are  just created (2). Select the ANGLE GRADIENT option 

Check the image below to see how to apply the gradient. Place the cross on the top left corner of the image and drag it to the right.
It is very important to start (point 1) the gradient at the very top left corner of the image or even outside the image, but never inside the image, it won´t look good.
Since we are using the ANGLE GRADIENT option, it doesn´t matter where you release the mouse (point 2) as long as you keep the line horizontal.

You should get a result similar to this image:

Get ready the Text

Before starting, download the Disco Deck font and install it on your system. After installing the font, select the Text tool, set 150px as the font size, and type the letter C.

Press CTRL + ENTERto release the tool. Click again with the text tool and a new text layer will be created. Type the letter R and release the tool again by pressing CTRL + ENTER . Do the same over and over until you have all the five letters on a different text layer each:

Now we are going to arrange the letters to get the overlapped look of the final effect.

That should be fairly easy. Just select the MOVE tool, check the AUTO SELECT option, and drag each letter closer to the other and overlap them as much as you want.

Go to the LAYERS PALETTE and select the layer with the letter C in it. Then choose GRADIENT OVERLAY from the Layer Effects pop-up menu.

DON´T press OK yet. Remember to use the new gradient we have already created some steps before:

Now click on the DROP SHADOW Layer Effect and use the following settings. Keep the window open, DON´T press OK yet.

Click on the STYLES option on the top of the window and then click on the NEW STYLE button and give it a name. The newly created style will show last on the list of styles. Now you can press OK to close the LAYER STYLES window.:

To apply the new style to each letter you must select a layer (1) and then click on the new style on located on the STYLES PALETTE (2).

Repeat the same for each letter. Don´t worry about the results. They will look incorrect but we will deal with that later. You will end up with something like this:

Although the effect is complete, the simulated paper cuts don´t look good. Let´s correct that. Go to the LAYERS PALETTE, select the layer with the letter R and click on the tiny arrow at the right (1). This will display all the Layer Effects of the text layer. Double click on the GRADIENT OVERLAY effect (2). This will open the LAYER STYLES window displaying the Gradient Overlay settings.

Move the LAYER STYLE window until you can see the letter R. You should do this because you can only edit the gradient position of the letter R while the LAYER STYLE window is open.

First, type -90 in the Angle setting of the Gradient Overlay window or you can also drag the gradient angle selector until it reads -90 degrees You will see how the letter R gradient has changed its rotation and it is vertical instead of horizontal. In the next step we will move the gradient a little bit to the left to make it look better.

You should still have the LAYER STYLES window open. If not, then open it as explained a couple of steps above. Now check at the top of the screen and you will se a message that says Click and drag to reposition the gradient. This means that while the LAYER STYLES window is open, you will be able to exactly click and drag the gradient inside the letter R, and reposition it at will.

When you are done, close the LAYER STYLES window. You image should now look like this one:

To reach the desired result, you should continue tweaking the rest of the gradients until they look like the final result. Check the image below to see a diagram of the changes you should make:

Giving a Touch of Color

Choose a color. Any color you want. You will be able to change it later. In this case we used #FFA200. Click OK and the layer will be filled with that color.

After that, Go to the LAYERS PALETTE and from the BLENDING MODES pull down menu (1), select SOFT LIGHT (2).

Finally! Here´s the finished Paper craft Text Effect.

Photoshop circle Twist Effects

Let’s create a new file (File>New) of 1920×1200px/72 dpi. Using the Paint Bucket Tool (G),give the new background layer black color.

On a new layer (Create new layer) we’ll apply a standard brush to represent a spot on the central part of the picture. The brush’s color is #007EC7

Select the next option for the layer containing the spot:Filter>Distort>ZigZag

The layer’s parameters:Fill 54%

Next we’ll choose the Rectangle Tool (U) to represent three white lines which must be turned over with Free Transform option.

Those three layers with the white lines must be combined in a group (press Ctrl button to mark out the lines’ layers and hold on the left mouse’s button while moving the marked layers on (Create a new group selection).

Mark out the group now and then press CTRL+E. On the rasterized layer we’ll apply the next option: Filter>Distort>Wave

On the same layer we need to apply also Filter>Blur>Gaussian blur

Set the next parameters for the layer by clicking on the same layer on the layers’ panel: Blending mode-Overlay : Fill 44%
Blending Options>Drop Shadow

Blending Options>Outer Glow

Make a copy of the recently made layer and chooseFree Transform option to turn over the copy the same way demonstrated on the picture.

Now we need to represent a new layer (Create new layer), applying here a standard brush to paint the new layer in two colors (on the top part we’ll choose the green color,on the bottom – the blue one) (Opacity 10%).

TAGS: Photoshop, Photoshop tips

Very Cool Folded TeXt Effect

So the first thing we are going to do is to open a new file in Photoshop, this one is 1200 x 400 pixels, write down contempotech using big fonts, you can use any font of your choice.

Now that we have the type we are going to start working on folding the letters one by one, so starting with the C we are going to select a box around the letter “C” using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), once we have it selected, hold Ctrl + C to copy the letter and then press Ctrl + V to paste it, name the layer you pasted “C”(change the color that you want on the contempotech text before you copy and paste it .

We already have the letter “C” on a new layer now we are going to select the part that we want to fold it, I like to use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) and select part of the letter that I want to fold it.

Now that we have a selection we are going to copy the selection by hitting Ctrl + C and then delete the selection on the layer “C”, paste it by hitting Ctrl + V, when you paste it note that it will be on a new layer so name that “C-fold” as you can see here.

First lets change the color of it, go to Image > Adjustment > Hue Saturation (Ctrl+U) bring the Saturation to -100 and Lightness to +60 to give a gray color so it looks like the back of the letter is folding and go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical (note that because we are folding from up to down, if it was side do side we would have to flip it horizontal) and then we have to Edit > Transform > Rotate and make sure we rotate the folded area exactly on the angle we want, make sure you place it right where it’s folding as you can see on the image.

Go back on the “C-fold” layer and go to Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow and reduce the Opacity from 75% to 25% and try to adjust the angle to be the same as the folding area, I set mine to 135, also reduce the Distance to 2px, and the rest can remain the same.

Our last step on the letter A will be to go back on the “C” layer, hold Ctrl and click on it to select the A we have, create a new layer (name it C-shade) and with the Gradient Tool – Linear Gradient with the color black apply it from the bottom up, change the layer mode to Overlay.

Our first letter is done, now we are going to repeat pretty much the same steps on each letter to get to the end with a good result. To get more organized put all the “C” layers into a folder called “O” and start working the same process on the letter O and so on.

At the end delete the text layer “CONTEMPOTECH” and you done!

Best Flash Tutorial: How to import sound in Flash 8.

First open a new document in Flash 8.
And next step is Go to File >> Import >> Import to Library….

A dialog box show asking you to choose a file from your hard drive.

as you need only sound formats and the rest can be ignored, the next thing you have to do is to filter the sound files using the “Files of Type” drop down menu and selecting “All Sound Formats”.


Select an MP3 (or other sound format) on and click “Open”.
The track appears now in the Library of the Flash Movie. You can open the library Shortcut keys: (press Ctrl +L) through Window >> Library. Open the library to see the imported MP3 file.

As you can see, you can preview the file in the library and present some optimization in the settings. But that’s not the focus of the best flash Tutorial; we just want to add some sound to our movie. Go to the timeline of the movie and add an extra layer (Insert >> Timeline >> Layer).

Now you have 2 layers on your timeline. Rename the upper layer “Sound”, the layer below renames to “Content”. That’s it. Your timeline should now look like on image (7).

Select the first frame on the layer “Sound” and open the first properties panel (Window >> Properties). Into the panel, find the “Sound” drop down panel and select the imported sound file.

You can now check the movie clicking on Control >> Test Movie or pressing Ctrl + Enter.

WEB DESIGNING

Everyone in this age of computers adores Web designs. The blank page on screen is created into a live picture with the help of your mind’s eye, keyboard and a mouse. Web designing is a very creative job. In short web design is a lot of fun, but it can also be a source of income.

If you choose web designing as your business then you need to be really careful in using the right process. If you don’t use the right procedure in making the design you effort may be unsuccessful.

How and why your design turns out to be a failure?

Your design may be very beautiful but

• It may not be appropriate for the type of website.
• It may not attract the viewers.
• It may be awful for its purpose.
• It may lack the qualities to create an excitement.
• It may not deliver the correct message of the site.

There are proper steps of web designing…

The basic steps to avoid making worst and awful designs are

• Sketch:

Appropriate planning is a must for a good design. In this the most important thing is to know the answers to the queries.

• Preparing matter:

This is the second step after you have a plan. It is just a rough draft. This will show how and where your content will be.

• Model:

This is an essential step of the process. This will be easy for you as you have already planned the content, instead it would be fun. It is fun also with many key considerations, so don’t get very much excited and make mistakes.

• Improvement:

As soon as you finalize the design, turn it into XHTML/CSS/PHP/MySQL and to whatever your site demands. The improvement naturally refers to the coding and backend matter.

Designing is the site where the designer’s talent shine. But still never jump to it as you may make a mistake by doing that. If you duck the planning and content building then you will not be able to attain the goals of the site.

First

In planning few questions have to be answered, like what is the goal of the site? Who are your visitors? What do you expect from the visitors? Etc. You should know the answers if you are designing the website. When you have the answers to these questions you can start your content building by deciding on color, layout, font size, font type.

Second

The phrase used mostly is that “content is king”. You should know which your target audience is and according to that you will have to frame your content and also keep in mind your goal for the site. You should make it a point that the visitor of your site must get to his destination just by max 3 times. Now when you prepare the sitemap all your contents should have their space.

Third

Do take care of not skipping any of the above steps. Let your imagination show colors here. You will have to design layouts for home page, and also for your transitional pages. Transitional pages are the pages which take the users to more significant things, so do have links to different varieties of the topic. Make sure that your transitional site’s layout tone with the entire site. It is a must that you have a rough draft of the layout to see which would go well with the topic.

Finally

Once you tie up with your design you can improve your site.  Depending on the way you want your site to work could draw in complications such as PHP and MySQL programming, or can be simple like HTML and CSS. This is the step that requires the coding of the site.

Thus we see that web designing is interesting, but it can lead to failure if not done according to the steps discussed above.

TAGS: WEB DESIGNING

Web Design Blog Back Again

Due to some technical problems we were unable to post to our blog. Now that we have fixed our issues we will continue to post regularly from now on. We have planned to update our blog at least twice a week. Sorry for the delay I hope you continue to support our blog by visiting us regularly. Our blog has been active for about 4 years now and we hope to bring some innovative postings in future. There are some expert web designers in our company who can share their experiences regularly in our blog. We have made it mandatory for them to participate at least once a week. I am sure they will bring some interesting posts for us to enjoy.

TAGS: Web Design Blog Back Again