Make a Photo Break out of a Frame

This is actually a fairly simple task -- although many of the Photoshop authors make it seem more difficult than it really is. Using logic, the portion of the image to be popped out of the frame must be separated from the original image and raised to a higher level, in front of the frame, while leaving the original photo in tact. This technique works in any image software which has layers.

1. Cut out the image: Using any of the software's selection tools you wish, make an accurate selection of the portion of the image you wish to pop.
In this example we used a combination of the Lasso and Magnetic Lasso to carve out the front of the car. Tip: to save time, cut only the part that will pop out.

Lift the image: Once your selection is accurate, and ready to go, duplicate it onto its own layer by using the "float" command (Cmd/J or Ctrl/J)

You can see the nose of the Jaguar is now on its own layer. (#1 in the layers palette) Note that it's just the nose -- no use to select more than you have to. It will match perfectly with the original image on the background layer and provide a seamless pop-out.

2. Create the Frame: Now, in a new layer, you can create the frame for the photo. Here we simply used a white background with the frame cut out. Layer #2 in the diagram.

At this point you can decorate or modify the frame any way you wish -- textures, borders, etc.
Key Concept: Layer Sequencing. Always remember that the stacking order of your layers affects the final product. As you look at the file, you'll understand that the layers were generated in that specific stack order to achieve the effect -- even though they may not have been created in that order.

Also note that we did all the selection work on a COPY of the background, just in case we flubbed something up, or needed to go back and get more of the image. The "work" layer can be deleted, and the whole image flattened when complete.

http://learnphotoshopnow.com/main.html.

Photoshop Tutorial > Cool-Warm Sepia


Sepia is a red-brown ink derived from the species Sepia officinalis, a cuttlefish. It was very popular with artists in the nineteenth century...

The sepia tone employed in black and white photography is the result of converting the metallic silver in a photograph to a sulphide.

It not only made the photo more attractive and fashionable, but it also elongated the image's permanence. Today, sepia toning is a term for any monochromatic photo with a brownish tint to make it look old fashioned.

Although true sepia toning renders an overall brownish tint to a black and white photo, we can make it more interesting by combining the silver gray of the high and middle tones of a black and white photograph with the rich warm darks of a sepia toned image.

Click on Image>Adjustments>Desaturate to change a color picture to gray tones.

Select the Shadows button in the Tone Balance section.

Adjust the Color Levels to give the shadows a rich warm red brown tone. Use these parameters:

Color Levels: 24 / 0 / -24

Select the Highlights button in the Tone Balance section.

Adjust the Color Levels to give the highlights a silvery gray tone. Use these parameters:

Color Levels: -24 / 0 / 24

The sepia tone in the dark areas gives an aged look while the gray values enhance the aerial perspective and add depth to the photo image.

(Tutorial kindly contributed by http://www.bmcphotoart.com)

Photoshop - Changing the World

"To see is to believe" is what most people say. However, this old adage, like so many others, has been negated by technology. Today, with Adobe Photoshop, you can create any image you want and share it to other people. This way, Adobe Photoshop is changing the whole world's perspective on reality.

For those who do not know, Adobe Photoshop is a program designed to let people edit various images on their computers. Its primary purpose is to let people perform touch ups on pictures before printing them. Of course, each succeeding version of Adobe Photoshop included more and more tools which let people add effects and do various other things to their photographs. The Adobe Photoshop of today actually allows people to add sound and animation to their photographs for sharing on the internet.

In the past, people who took bad pictures were stuck with them. A lot of things can go wrong in a picture. There's the usual red-eye, skewed angles, shaky focus and others. Adobe Photoshop was the tool that made all of these things disappear. With Adobe Photoshop, people can take pictures like amateurs and still produce images like pros!

However, Adobe Photoshop today has gone beyond image editing. Today, the software is labeled as an image manipulation tool. This somehow gives people the impression that Adobe Photoshop actually gives them a greater degree of freedom than other image-editing programs available today. In fact, it actually does.

If sight is reality, then Adobe Photoshop can help you create any reality that you want. With Adobe Photoshop, you will be able to create images of other worlds. You will be able to capture the beauty of the universe inside a glass jar. Your creativity will be unleashed. That's how much Adobe Photoshop can change your life.

In the world today, one can easily observe the impact that Adobe Photoshop has wrought on culture. Just like Google, Adobe Photoshop is now being used by people as a verb. When a person is said to be photoshopping something, it is always assumed that the person is editing an image of come sort, whether he or she is actually using Adobe Photoshop or not.

Adobe Photoshop has also led to a whole new level of art and animation. Did you know that tablets were developed specifically with Adobe Photoshop in mind? Artists of today have gone beyond using paints and a canvas. Today's painters make use of tablet sensors and Adobe Photoshop to produce their masterpieces. With the technology of Adobe Photoshop, people are able to take the art of drawing, add a bit of computer technology, and come up with a whole new genre of animation.

In the past, images had to be saved as specific file types in order to be usable for Adobe Photoshop. However, because of the proliferation of digital cameras and camera phones today, Adobe Photoshop can actually import the photographs directly from the sources. This means that the gap between taking the picture and sharing it is reduced.

Adobe Photoshop might just be a tool for some people. However, you should know that tools, when used by enough people can change history. In this age where everything is defined by computers, Adobe Photoshop is just another tool which, in the right hands, can change the world.

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Graphic Designing for Everyone

It seems to be the norm these days that just about anyone can be considered a graphic designer to some degree or another. With so many programs being built right into digital camera software, greeting card programs and the standards that come with computer packages these days, it makes it really easy for people to get creative and experiment with their design skills. Many are at home designing and saving money by creating their own wedding invitations, holiday newsletters, calendars, advertisements and much more with borders, clip art, funky fonts and all kinds of themes and color schemes that can be achieved with just a click or two of the mouse.

Pictures can also be easily incorporated into designs of any media type, print or web, with one of the many software programs on the market today. But when it comes to pictures and images, a favorite amongst most graphic designers is definitely Photoshop. This program is manufactured by Adobe and has tons of amazing features and tools that can make any picture into a work of art with very little effort. It also enables you to touch up photos that might have been damaged or become worn over time, in addition to having the capability to add text and all kinds of cool effects to artistic projects. Adobe Photoshop does tend to be on the more expensive side, but if purchased in a bundled package, you’ll not only save money, but you’ll also get a few other really great design programs that Adobe also develops and sells right along with it – then you can really get crazy going to town with your artistic abilities!

Results will vary of course, depending on an individual’s degree of experience, education in design and length of time working in this area, but even just a basic knowledge of a graphic design program can lead to some very imaginative results either on a personal or professional level.

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Introduction To The Photoshop CS Tutorial

Are you amazed by the awesome pictures posted in magazines and various Internet sites? Believe it or not, but even if you are not a professional photographer, you could also come up with similarly fantastic pictures.

Introducing the Adobe Photoshop CS. The Photoshop CS is the more advanced and updated versions of the Adobe Photoshop software that has been around for quite some time. During the pre-computer era, you were perhaps engrossed into the hobby of cutting out pictures for better album presentations.

But now, everything can be done using the computer. Even the cameras with negative films on it are slowly becoming obsolete, in favor of the modern camera types, where images are stored not on films but virtually through computer memories. In that case, how could you make good albums or edit pictures?

The Photoshop is here to save the day. No need to use scissors and paste. Just turn on your computer, get a copy of the Photoshop software, which can be accessed conveniently online or in software stores, and start working on your masterpiece.

However, like almost any other person who has been held back by the fear that the Photoshop CS might be too sophisticated and complicated to be learned, there is a need to first familiarize with the basic and the advanced functions of the software. Even Adobe Systems recognize the fact that its Photoshop CS offering is challenging to use.

Tutorials

Do not fret. There are now numerous ways on how you could easily and conveniently get a tutorial for the software. You would logically not be able to learn how to use the computer program for yourself. However, there are many centers and firms that aim to provide crash courses and lessons for the initiative.

Find a personal tutorial center for Adobe Photoshop within your community. Usually, such centers train and educate people about many other computer programs as well. Enroll in such sessions. You would be left to decide whether you would prefer the classroom setup or the personal instruction or the one-on-one session.

In the classroom set-up, you would be put into a classroom where there are other people who are there to learn how to use the Photoshop CS. The instructor would introduce you to the key concepts and would even demonstrate how you would use each function.

In the one-on-one setup, you would be alone with the instructor. He would demonstrate to you how to use the usual keys and functions in Photoshop CS. Since the process of using the software is a bit more complicated compared to other computer programs, it would be advisable if you learn from an instructor, who is well adept and knowledgeable about the task.

If the convenience is hard to find, there are other ways on how you could get a tutorial for using the Photoshop CS. You could decide to have your own pacing, meaning, you could speed up the process or take it slowly.

There are many self-help books published and distributed through the bookstores that would tutor you on how to use the Photoshop CS on procedural narrative formats. All you have to do is to absorb and understand by heart the content and instructions contained in such reading materials.

If the printed books are not convenient, there are online and downloadable versions. Such e-books, as they are called nowadays, can be accessed online within minutes. They are actually like the book versions, only that they are soft copies and are faster to retrieve and access.

Which tutorial scheme would you choose for learning the Photoshop CS?

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Photoshop Layers Tutorials

Layers are a powerful feature of Photoshop that allow you to work on one part of an image without disturbing the rest of it. While the concept of layers may seem intimidating at first, once you get the hang of using layers you’ll wonder how you ever survived without them!

The transparent parts of any layer, shown by the checkered grid, allow the layers beneath that layer to show through. You can show and hide each layer in an image by clicking on its corresponding eye icon in the Layers palette.

To organize your layers, you can arrange them into layer groups by going to Layer > New > Group…. Each layer group displays in the same way as any ungrouped layers on the Layers palette. A layer group is signified by a folder icon. You can collapse or expand layer groups by clicking on the triangle to the left of the folder icon, and nest layer groups within each other by dragging one folder icon into another.

Here are 10 quick Layer Shortcuts.

  1. Rename layers by double-clicking on the layer name.
  2. elect a layer by using the keyboard shortcuts Alt-[ and Alt-] (Option-[ and Option-] on a Mac).
  3. Merge a layer into the one beneath it by pressing Ctrl- E (Command-E). If you have selected layers, this shortcut will merge those selected layers together.
  4. Change the transparency of a layer by changing its opacity with the Opacity slider, or typing a value into the Opacity box (which is visible when you have the Selection, Move, or Crop tools selected).
  5. Duplicate a selected layer by pressing Ctrl-J (Command-J on a Mac). You can also duplicate a layer by dragging it while pressing the Alt (Option) key.
  6. Select multiple layers by holding down Ctrl (Command on a Mac) and clicking the layer names. This forms a temporary link between the selected layers that allows you to move them as one unit, delete them all, and so on.
  7. You can also link layers together. Select layers by clicking on them while holding down Shift or Ctrl (Command on a Mac).
  8. To unlink all the layers, select one of the linked layers and go to Layer > Unlink Layers.
  9. To temporarily unlink a layer, hold down Shift and click on its link icon (a red “X” will appear over the link icon).
  10. Reactivate the link by holding down Shift and clicking the link icon again.
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10 Things You Can Do With Photoshop CS2

Is Photoshop CS2 worth the upgrade? You bet it is! Here are just 10 things you can do with this fantastic new version of Photoshop that were impossible (or difficult) to do with previous versions:

1. Manipulate objects in the Adobe Bridge

This new generation of file browser enables you to look at photographs and artwork in detail before you open the file, process multiple Camera Raw images, flip through pages in PDF documents, size, rate and organise your work in a convenient and highly user-friendly way. Goes way beyond the capabilities of the File Browser introduced in Photoshop 7.

2. Get rid of imperfections with the Spot Healing Bush

The Spot Healing brush enables you to get rid of slight imperfections - like dust or scratches at the click of a mouse. Unlike the Healing Brush or Patch tools, you don't have to find a source point first.

3. Remove "red-eye" in an instant.

With older versions of Photoshop, removing red-eye and pet-eye was possible, but it wasn't easy. Now, one click of the Red Eye removal tool can remove pet-eye and red-eye from your photographs, in less time than it takes your subject to say "cheese!".

4. Perform non-destructive scaling with Smart Objects.

You know how it is: You try to make an imported object larger, and it goes all blurry and pixelated. With Smart Objects, that's a thing of the past, because you can scale, warp and rotate vector graphics in a non-destructive way.

5. Do neat things in perspective with the new Vanishing Point feature.

With Vanishing point you can cut and paste in perspective. Now you're able to turn a photograph of a wall into a "virtual art gallery" with all the pictures correctly skewed, or move a window from one side of a building to another and, because the perspective is correct, have it look like it's always been there. You can also draw lines that taper off into the distance - wide nearest the camera, narrow further away - just like in "real life".

6. Get more accurate printing.

With Photoshop CS2, the people at Adobe have improved the printing workflow. Now it's even easier to configure your inkjet printer to get more accurate colour printing.

7. Customise menus and workspaces.

Photoshop CS2 lets you highlight commonly used menu items, and set up custom menus and workspaces. Now all the power of Photoshop is (literally) at your command, and can be tailored to your requirements.

8. See what each font looks like before you use it.

Finally! Photoshop gets a WYSIWYG font drop-down menu. Now you don't have to keep text highlighted while you cycle through all the fonts until you get to the right one!

9. Manipulate images with Image Warp.

Image Warp allows you to bend, peel, and stretch images the same way as type. Now you can put an image on a mug or soda can with ease.

10. See what video graphics will look like, while you're doing them.

If you're a video professional like me, you'll know how frustrating it can be: You make a graphic that looks fantastic on a flat computer monitor, but when you import the .psd file into your Avid timeline, and look at it on the TV screen, it's not quite what you had in mind. You then have to go back into Photoshop and make your artwork look "wrong", so it will look right on a video monitor. With Photoshop CS2 you can preview your images on a video monitor directly from the software, and see exactly how they're going to look in your video, even if your editing software is on a different computer.

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Masking Techniques



This practical step-by-step tutorial by certified Photoshop Trainer Rita Amladi, is guaranteed to raise your knowledge level, and it will inspire you to apply these successful techniques in your own projects right away. In addition, several "Mini-Tutorials" shed light on key concepts and tools covered in each section. An entire section is devoted to teaching you about color management, which will ensure that you get the best possible results on screen and when printed.

http://learnphotoshopnow.com/main.html

Making the Most out of a Photo Shop Video Tutorial

In today’s world of computers, it would seem so impossible if you have not even heard of Adobe Photo Shop. It hails among the most important programs of today, being the leading photo-processing and graphics software in the market. Learning how to use this program is already a prerequisite for anyone who wants to venture into digital visual arts. It is therefore not surprising why there are tons of photo shop tutorials out there. People really want to learn how to use the program. But among tutorials, the best type for learning is probably the photo shop video tutorial.

In all fairness to other types of photo shop tutorials, normal photo shop instructional resources are indeed very useful. They teach people a wide range ways to use photo shop to their advantage. However, most of these usual tutorial versions can be hard to follow since they only tell people what to do, but not necessarily show them how to do it. When such is the case, it would really be helpful to see what is being taught. This is normally something that people taking photo shop classes can enjoy, but now even people at home can learn photo shop and see how it is down with the help of a photo shop video tutorial.

What a Photo Shop Video Tutorial Can Teach You

There are many specific types of photo shop video tutorials available, some very specialized while others very simple. However, they have a common goal of making you understand the capabilities of photo shop better and make use of them for your own projects. Some photo shop video tutorials teach basic stuff about the program. This type of tutorial instructs users in making themselves familiar with software – its regular menus, common tools and basic functionalities.

There are also photo shop video tutorials that teach more specific functions of the program. Some specifically teach the color enhancing and manipulation capabilities of photo shop that help adjust the tints or hues of photos. There are also photo shop video tutorials that teach users how to scan pictures for optimum quality. While other tutorials instruct the various ways of editing pictures to make them even more interesting than they already are. These tutorials are very useful for photographers, both digital and film users.

Other photo shop video tutorials teach more advanced functionalities of the program. There are tutorials that teach how to make effects out text, making them even more interesting and very catchy. Others show how to make special effects out of images to make them even more appealing, exciting, or fascinating to viewers. There are some that how to come up with textures that make pictures pop out into real life. These tutorials are very useful for the more advanced graphics designers and visual artists.

Where to Look for Photo Shop Video Tutorials

There are many places to look for photo shop video tutorials. Most software stores have them on stock together with video tutorials for other software. Tutorials can also be found online through various instructional websites sites that offer those who want to learn how to use the program. The good thing about them is that they can easily be reached via the Internet and some of them are even for free.

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Learning Photoshop through Video Tutorials

If the thought of learning Photoshop through textual tutorials make you snore, you might find tutorial videos more interesting. There are lots of tutorials available on CD-ROM and DVD formats and thousands of single-lesson video clips you can view online or download to watch later. Many of these videos are taught by a human trainer and while the videos are designed to guide you step-by-step, you can always skip lessons and jump from one clip to the next.

Here are a few you might want to take home:

PhotoshopSecrets for Wacom Tablets & Photoshop

This is a great Photoshop video tutorial if you are a tablet user. Currently, this is probably the most comprehensive, allowing you to learn how to use all the tools and features available with Adobe Photoshop. This tutorial video is authored and taught by Colin Smith and Weston Maggio of Photoshopcafe and Wacom Technology, respectively. Both are experienced trainers so you'll find the lessons well-paced and relevant.

This DVD ROM tutorial has more than 120 minutes of 800x600 video. It's easy to navigate and you can click on any lesson you like without any trouble while still controlling the playback. If you prefer to learn on your own, just click on the lesson files and play the video clip of your choice on your own free time.

PhotoshopSecrets Special FX

This tutorial video contains 19 lessons packed in approximately 2 hours of fast-loading CD-ROM. If 'cool!' is the one word that you want to hear to feel validated for your Photoshop efforts, this video tutorial will teach you exactly how to use special effects like the pros. Learn about 3D lathing, liquid splashes, CS branding, pixel stretching, thermal vision, toxic waste and lots more. These are cutting-edge effects, the kind you find in more advanced Photoshop users' works so you might want to try it out for yourself.

Photoshopsupport.com

This site features some of the best and latest Photoshop tutorials, including those in video. Use Photoshop confidently in no time with the free video tutorials. You can even click on the links provided to find out about Photoshop products for more detailed tutorials. If you're using Photoshop to come up with a cooler, meaner website, you'll like the short tutorials on SiteGrinder 2, an Adobe Photoshop Plugin.

Graphicsoft.about.com

If you like free online tutorials, check out this site. All tutorial video clips are taught by Deke McClelland, who is also the trainer for several Adobe Photoshop CS2 training CDs. He's offering a free sample of his lessons on this site – you won't have everything you need, but the tutorials are enough to teach you some very important things and get you started.

Included in the tutorial video clips are: learning about Vanishing Point, Camera Raw, Image Warp, Smart Sharpen Filter, Smart Objects, Adobe Bridge, Match Color and Shadow Highlight Filter. If you want to buy his tutorial videos, you'll get an exclusive 20% discount if you use the promotion code.

PhotoshopSecrets – CS2 for Digital Photographers

If you want to learn how to maximize your digital photos with the use of CS2, this video tutorial is for you. Learn how professional photographers produce better-looking photographs and use their tricks to turn your photos from blah to blast. This tutorial video is a CD-ROM format, has 43 lessons and runs approximately 3.5 hours.

Lessons include: using Camera Raw, image adjustment, red eye removal, grain and color noise reduction, changing perspective, using image sharpening techniques, using vanishing point, image extraction and many more. If those lessons aren’t enough to get you interested, here are two of the most popular tools you absolutely must learn: face swapping and image retouching.

http://learnphotoshopnow.com/main.html

How to Remove Background

If you have ever done any image editing in Photoshop, you know that one of the hardest things to do is to take an image out of its current background. I have a very easy way to do this, which is also very accurate in getting just the image that you would like to use. Here are the steps to use to remove the background from an image in Photoshop.

The first thing that you need to do is to open the image whose background you would like to remove. Then select the Magic Wand Tool from the Tools box. The Magic Wand Tool is a great tool to get the image you are trying to select roughed out. This tool will select a section of an image based on the color of the image. Do not worry about getting everything exactly right using this tool, but you want get a rough selection of the image you are trying to extract from the background. You want to click on the image to make the first selection, and then hold down the shift key while clicking to continue adding selections, until you have the entire image that you would like to remove selected. Right now you will probably notice that not the entire image has been selected, or that the selection is not very clean looking. To fix this, Photoshop has a very handy built-in tool to help clean up your selection.

Right below the color selection area in the Tools box is two small icons that look like cameras. The one on the right is Edit in Quick Mask Mode, click on this one and everything you have not selected will turn red. Then you can use the eraser tool to add to your selection, and the paint brush tool to remove from your selection. After using these tools to clean up your selection, click on the Edit in Standard Mode button to see your finished selection. Then you can click on Edit, Copy and then click on File, New to open a new image. Photoshop will look at the image that you have copied on the clipboard, and size the new image to the same size as the image copied. Then paste your copied image to the new image, and you will have your extracted image with a transparent background.

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Learn the Basics of Photoshop for FREE

Adobe Photoshop, called simply Photoshop by most, is a leading graphics editor developed by Adobe Systems. It is used to create and manipulate images, both for personal and commercial use. Photoshop can be used in multiple operating systems, including Microsoft, Macintosh and Linux. Since 1988, Photoshop has evolved from containing basic editing tools to the now more advanced functions, including the warp tool and the grain reduction filter for photos taken in low light. Because of this, there is a need to learn the basics and constantly re-learn additional features of the software; hence, the continuously increasing number of free Photoshop tutorials available.

The Adobe Photoshop program itself offers tutorials. First, check out the manual. This contains explanations on the basic tools of the software. The program also comes with ReadMe and ReadMe First! files that also contains helpful information. When you open Adobe Photoshop, you can also go to Photoshop Help under the “Help” tab. If you are using Windows, the shortcut would be to click F1. You can then choose from a set of basic Photoshop topics, such as making color adjustments, drawing, applying filters, and using layers.

Free Photoshop Tutorials also abound on the Internet. The advantages of using the Internet to look for free tutorials are that these resources are more updated that those found in books or those built-in with the program. The Internet also provides almost unlimited information for various topics and useful tips from other users like you. Also, you can access these tutorials at your own time in the convenience of your home.

The most trusted source of free Photoshop information is the Adobe Website, which can be seen at www.adobe.com. Adobe Online offers free tutorials, how-to guides, interactive online courses and online seminars. Adobe Online also allows registered users access to Photoshop Knowledgebase, which contains answers to technical questions. Adobe also offers customer service, which can vary depending on your location.

You can also join several online Photoshop forums. These allow Photoshop users to interact with one another and answer each other’s questions. Adobe also has an online forum for its products, including Photoshop. Aside from this, there are other forums on Photoshop and other similar software that you can join.

If you still want more information, you can also search the Internet for other sources. Using a search engine, you can find numerous websites offering free Photoshop tutorials. Free Photoshop tutorials are available in multiple formats, including text, audio, video, or combinations of these. Depending on your availability, tutorials may also be conducted in real-time or may be accessed on-demand.

Some websites offer a list of free online tutorials from different sources, such as www.tutorialkit.com and www.photoshopsupport.com. Other sites offer free tutorials that can be accessed on their webpages, while some websites send the tutorials directly to your e-mail. Some websites also offer online tutorial and training courses, which you can try out for free for a set trial period. You can also avail of tutorial courses using chats and call or video conferencing, which can be conducted one-on-one or with a group. These live tutorials are more interactive, allowing you to ask questions during the process and provide feedback to the other users.

Of course, there are also disadvantages to searching for free Photoshop tutorials online is that you cannot always be assured of the quality of the tutorials. Majority of these tutorials are not certified or supported by Adobe Systems. Also, some websites offering free Photoshop tutorials advertise that their tutorials are free when, in fact, they aren’t. Users looking for free Photoshop tutorials should be on the lookout for these sites and should proceed with caution.

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Modifying Standard Shapes


Have you ever wondered how someone was able to create a logo that looked so perfect? I used to think that someone probably had to draw the logo by hand, but then I learned some very interesting things about creating shapes in Photoshop. I used to think that you could only create standard shapes like ovals, rectangles, squares, and circles. However I recently learned that Photoshop gives you the ability to take these standard shapes and modify them to make new shapes that are very appealing. The way that this is accomplished is by selecting the path of the shape and manipulating it to create a completely new and different shape.


The first thing that you need to do is create a shape like a rectangle or an oval. Then choose the direct selection tool (white arrow), and select the path around the shape. You will know that you have selected the path, because you will see anchor points at the corners of the shape. Once you see the anchor points you will be able to click the anchor points and use them to resize and redesign the shape. The best thing about using paths to change the shape’s design is that the shape maintains its crisp lines, and looks just as good as a standard shape. How are you able to do this? The reason these changes are so clean is that the shape is vector based, and not pixel based, so you are able to just manipulate the vectors that comprise the shape. Another great thing about editing a shape in this way is that whatever formatting you have used on the shape will not be affected by modifying the path. If you have a gradient fill on the shape it will be modified as you modify the path of the shape, and it will maintain the same look as before you modified the shape. Now that you know how to modify the path of a shape you are no longer limited by the standard shapes that appear in the tools palette. Use your freedom wisely, and take this new found knowledge to you computer so you can create graphics that everyone else will envy for a change.

Photoshop Plugins

Adobe’s Photoshop software is a very powerful image editing program that is by far the market leader for editing image files. I use Photoshop extensively when creating, and editing images for the web sites that I design. Almost all professional photographers and printers also use Photoshop to create all of the wonderful images that appear in magazines, billboards, and even on television. I am not the best artist in the world, but with Photoshop I have enough power to create brilliant images with tools that are built-in to the software.

The coolest thing about Photoshop is that even as powerful as it is out of the box, there are many different plug-ins to make Photoshop even more powerful. The Photoshop plug-ins can be grouped into a few major categories which include 3D, color management, digital asset management, photographic, retouching, and special effects.


The Photoshop plug-ins which are available can help perform tasks much faster and more efficiently than performing these tasks by hand. The 3D plug-ins are used to create 3D images and type very quickly and elegantly. The color management Photoshop plug-ins can create new colors to correspond to the printer that you are using, or the monitor that you are using to create your graphics. The digital asset management plug-ins are used to organize all of the digital images that you have created so that finding the correct image is much easier than without it. The photographic ones give many different professional lens techniques that you can apply to any picture to create amazing effects.


The retouching plug-ins can intelligently change the contrast, color, sharpness, and many other common filters to make a picture look as crisp as possible. The special effects plug-ins are my favorite, because they can make a rather plain image into something fantastic. If you use Photoshop on a regular basis, then you need to look at some of the plug-ins that are available, because they can make your life much easier, and your graphics look much better.