Adding Hair Color Highlights to Your Photo

How to apply streaks of color to the person's hair using Photoshop.

1. Open the photo that has the person's hair in Photoshop you want to add highlights to.

2. Click from the "Standard Mode" into the "Quick Mask Mode".

3. Select black from the "Swatches Palette" and use an appropriate sized brush and paint over the person's hair in the photo (when you are in Quick Mask Mode, the brush will paint a transparent red). I used a "Hard Round 3 Pixel" brush and just clicked over the hair where I wanted the highlight. By clicking on the hair with the "Brush Tool", you will still have some original color come through which makes the highlights more realistic.

4. Click from the "Quick Mask Mode" into the "Standard Mode".

5. Now click on Select > Inverse and you should now have only the hair selected in your photograph.

6. Click on Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to make adjustments.

7. Adjust the Hue/Saturation slider to get various colors for the hair. I set the Hue to [-64] and the Saturation to [+34] for the example.

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How To Create A Christmas Box

In this adobe Photoshop tutorial you will see how to make a custom christmas content box, or shape, I just made this and was a bit inspired by the christmas spirits around my house right now, I think the result came out quite good.

We will start by making the basic shape, the box with the two flower things at the top, then merge them together to one shape.

Start by using your rectangle shape tool and drag out a rectangle as I did below.

Now go locate the flower shape in Photoshops custom shapes panel (the tool should be placed next to the rectangle tool). drag out two flowers as below and place them in each upper corner as I did.

If you go to the layers panel you should have a background layer and three shape layers. Select all the shape layers by holding down alt and clicking them, then right click and choose merge layers and you should have merged them into one shape.

Again go to Photoshops custom shapes layer and find one of the default snowflake shapes draw three of them on the stage about the same place as I did. Select them all and merge them into one layer as we did before with our first shape.

Hold down ctrl and click the snowflakes layer to load a selection around them, now you can delete the snowflakes layer again.

Select our first shapes layer and hit delete, then we should have deleted parts of our shape so it should look like mine below.

Double click our shapes layer in the layers panel to get to the layers styles panel and give it settings as shown below.

Now we will make it a bit shiny by giving our shape some glossiness. Hold down ctrl and click our layer in the layers panel to load the selection, use the selection tool to subtract a elliptical selection part as shown below.

Now with our gradient tool make a gradient from white to transparent and drag it in the selection (in a new layer above our shape).

As a final step I just made a couple of default snowflake shapes and brought down the opacity to about 10 and put them inside my box.

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Create Animated Christmas Bells

1. Here's a simple Pen Tool/Path combined with a brush preset animated christmas bells effect.


2. Start with the 'Pen Tool (P)'...
   


3. ... make sure the 'Path' option is selected on the Options Bar.


4. Then roughly draw in the shape of the bell. Then use the 'Convert Anchor Point Tool' to smooth out the corners as I have captured below.


5. Next, select the 'Brush Tool (B)'...


6. and then define the preset parameters to use to stroke the above path.


7. Next, set a foreground color (say of green) then select the 'Path Selection Tool (A)' from the Tool Bar, and then actually select the bell path you drew earlier. Then, right click and choose 'Stroke Path'.


8. Next, create a new layer, select 'Path Selection Tool (A)' again and go 'Edit/Transform Path/Flip Horizontal' and repeat step 7, except with a foreground color of red.


9. Next, I simply added a brighter green (#37C810) glow (blending style)to the green bell.


10. Notice how the bells should look with both 'Outer Glow' styles applied.


11. Next, before jumping into ImageReady, lets turn off the Glow Style on the green bell. (Hit the eye symbol to the left of the 'Effects' sub layers.


12. Next, hit 'Shift +Ctrl + M' to jump to Imageready or click on the Imageready icon located on the bottom of the Toolbar


13. While in ImageReady, should appear the first frame in the Animation Window with the settings from Photoshop. (If you do not see the Animation Window, go 'Window/Animation' up on the menu bar. Adjust the frame rate from 0 seconds to 1.


14. Next, at the end of the Animation Window, click the menu arrow and choose 'New Frame' from the list.


15. Now, while frame 2 is still active in the Animation Window, lets reverse the settings of the red and green bell settings. Simply, turn on green effects and turn off green effects.


16. Hit the play animation button to see it in action.


17. Finally, go 'File/Save Optimized As', to save as an animated gif file.

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What Is The Clone Stamp Tool?

The Cloning Stamp Tool does exactly what its name implies. Using this tool, you can copy a portion of an image and reapply it repeatedly to cover an unwanted portion of the image. The example below shows a telephone pole in the original image; the Clone Stamp Tool enabled us to cover the telephone pole with the surrounding grass, weeds and sky and create a new image that does not contain the telephone pole.

To use the cloning stamp:

1) Select the Clone Stamp Tool from the toolbox.

2) On the Options bar across the top of the screen, select the brush size and type of brush you want to use:

(Click the arrow on the upper right corner of the brush palette to see a menu for extended brush options.)

3) Move the cursor over the image to the area you would like to reproduce elsewhere.

4) Hold down the Alt key and click to select the area to clone from.

5) When you release the mouse, the brush will appear on the image in the shape of the brush selected. Crosshairs will appear over the area to be reproduced and move with the brush.

6) Click repeatedly or drag the mouse to reproduce the pattern.

Tip: the Clone Stamp Tool is easier to use when you zoom in on the desired area. Also, work with small sections at a time in order to create a more realistic-looking image.

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How To Add Text On A Textured Surface

With this tutorial I am going to show you the technique I use when I want to add text on a textured surface.

First of all open the photo with the textured surface that you want to place your text on. For this tutorial I am going to use a stock photo of a wall.

We are going to duplicate our photo. Go to Image -> Duplicate

A new window will come up asking you to give the duplicate image a name, choose a name that you will remember (I named it wall copy)

Now save the duplicate image as the-name-you-gave-it.psd. Make sure that you don’t save it in .jpg or any other format, it needs to be saved as a .psd. (File -> Save as) You can now close the duplicate image.

Back at our original Image. Select the text tool and type your text.

The next step is to rasterize the text layer. Right click on the text layer at the layers palette and choose “Rasterize Layer”.

This is the basic step of this technique. Go to Filter->Distort->Displace
You can experiment with the settings to find the ones that better suit you needs.

A window will come up asking you to select a displacement map. Find and select the duplicate image that you created at the start of the tutorial (Mine was “wall copy.psd”) and press open.

We are almost done, we just need to do one more thing, change the text’s layer blending mode. For this tutorial I used “Linear Burn”. However, when using different colors for the text or the color of the background layer is different than the one I used for this tutorial, other blending modes may work as well. For example, “Overlay” works well for black text on light color surfaces.

You can see that the text now blends nicely with the textured background.

Layer Styles Blending with Photoshop

Layer Styles Blending has been an integral technique in my workflow for many years. It is a great way to composite images and has many other practical uses as well. This podcast explores Layer Blend Modes as well as the "Blend If" sliders to blend image pixels.

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Create Cool Photo Edges with Photoshop

This is a simple tutorial to show you some techniques on how to create some nice borders for your images.

To start off, open the image you want to edit (be sure to make a back up of it first, we dont want to lose the original)

Press "D" to reset your color palette back to black and white.

Now go to Image->Canvas Size.

For the width and height, add 30 pixels to the current size. If your current size is 400 x 500, you'll add 30 to the width: = 430, and for height = 530. What we are doing here is making the canvas bigger than the current image, hence, enough room for the border.

Now click OK. You should have a white border.

Now use your rectangle selection tool and make a selection of your image, about 10 - 20 pixels smaller than the actual image.

Now go to Select->Inverse to inverse your selection. Now what you got selected is the outer border of the image.
Now go to Select->Feather and enter 4. This will soften the edges.

Now it's time to add some cool edging effects.

Go to Filter->Sketch->Torn Edges.

Now what you enter here is totally up to you. I set mine at: Image balance: 50, Smoothness: 5, Contrast: 20.

You can play around with OTHER filters to get different edging effects, here are a few:

Filter->Distort->Ocean Ripple

Filter->Sketch ->Chalk &Charcoal

Just experiment with the filters, maybe combine a few different filters to get some awesome borders.


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Changing Colors with Photoshop

Okay, lets open the photo you want to change color. Here is a photo I'll be working with, and what I want to change in here is her blue shirt.

So select the lasso tool or any other selection tool you feel comfortable with, and make a selection around the object you want to change the color of. It does not need to be a precise selection, just around the edges.

Now create a new adjustment layer, for hue/saturation: go to Layer->New Adjustment Layer->Hue/Saturation. Name it whatever you want then just click OK.

In the Edit option at the top in the Hue/Saturation box, select the "color family" of the color you want to change. (your color may not be listed, but just choose something close). For the above image, the shirt is blue, so I'll select "Blues" under that option.

Then move your cursor onto the object you want to change color, and it'll change into "color picker" icon, just click on the color you want to change to select the color.

Now move your "Hue" slider and the color of your select object will magically change.

Now, if you run into trouble, such as the color outside your intended object (but within your selection) changes too, then you just need to move the slider at the bottom of the hue/saturation box until that area turns back into its natural color.

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Photo to Pencil Sketch

Lets cover a simple method in Pencil Sketch Technique:

The first step, of course, is to open an image. Keep in mind that, with some methods, large areas of dark color may not turn out the way we want. Experimentation is key in finding the correct method for your individual project.

The next step should be obvious as well - duplicate the original layer. We do this so that if something goes wrong we still have the original at the bottom of the layers stack, to which we can revert. That said, you can duplicate the background layer by dragging the background layer down to the Create New Layer icon and releasing it, or by holding CTRL (CMD on the Mac) and hitting the J key, or by selecting Layer > Duplicate from the main menu with the background selected in the layers palette. Use whichever method you prefer.

The next mandatory step is to change the new layer into a black-n-white image. There are a few different ways to do this, some simple and some rather lengthy. Of course, you can go to the Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. Or, go to Image > Adjustments > Hue & Saturation and slide the Saturation slider all the way to the left. While here, you can do some rudimentary contrast adjustments with the Lightness slider.

Another method is to switch to Lab Color Mode and copy the Lightness channel to the clipboard, then switch back to RGB Mode and paste it into your image. The method that gives you the most control over the outcome, however, involves Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer. Click the Monochrome checkbox, at the bottom of the dialog, and use the sliders to adjust the contrast. Here is yet another area where personal preferences come into play. In other words, make it look good to you - there are no set rules to follow.

High Pass:

This is the method that, I believe, can give the best results. Here, you want to take the black-n-white layer and run the Filter > Other > High Pass filter on it. In the dialog, set the Radius to a low number (i.e. 1.5 - 2.0). If you don't see enough detail in the image, you can duplicate the layer and set the Blending Mode of the top layer to Overlay then adjust the Opacity of this layer, if necessary. If you do this, though, make sure to merge these two layers before moving to the next step.

The next step is to duplicate this layer and set the Blending Mode of the top layer to Color Dodge. Viola`! - only the shadows remain. Grey areas may, sometimes, look a little blotchy but some Levels adjustments or the good ol' Eraser Tool can help with that.

Photoshop to Make Line Drawing

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Christmas Glass Ornaments

1. Create a new image that is 500 pixels wide by 500 pixels high, 72 ppi, RGB white background. hit your D key. Use the paint bucket to fill this layer with black.
   
   
2. Insert a new layer. Click Edit=> Fill and select 50% grey, normal and 100 % opacity.
   
   
3. Click Filter=>Render=> Lens Flare. Set the flare to 100% and 105 prime.
   
   
4. Click Filter=>Distort=>Polar Coordinates. Check Polar to rectangular.
   
   
5. Click Edit=> Transform=>Flip vertical.
   
   
6. Click Filter=> distort=>Polar coordinates. Check rectangular to Polar.
   
   Select the Elliptical marquee tool with the option style of fixed size set at 500 wide by 500 high. Click in the upper left corner and click select => inverse. Hit your backspace key. Click Select => Deselect.
   
   
7. Select your move tool with bounding box option checked. Resize the globe to about 42 % wide by 42% high.
   
   
8. Add a layer. Use your rectangular marquee to select a square about 50 pixels by 50 pixels. Fill this with a reflected gradient with foreground color at #666666 and background color of #CCCCCC.
   
   
9. Click Filter=> Noise=> Add Noise. Set the noise to 20., Gaussian, monochromatic.
   
   
10. Click Filter=> Blur=>Motion Blur. Set the motion blur to angle of 90 degrees and distance 4.
    
    
11. Set the elliptical marquee to a fixed size of 100 wide by 50 high and set it over the square so the edges of the square are clipped by the oval. Click Select=> inverse and hit your backspace key.
    
    Use your marquee tool to move the marquee to the top of the rounded square. apply a burn to the top to shade it darker for the top. Center the ornament top on top of your globe. Select=> Deselect.
    
    
12. Open the holley image and the pointsetta image. Use the lasso set to a 10 pixel feather to select some holly leaves and pointsetta leaves and drag them onto your canvas. Resize them with yourmove tool and position them near the top of the globe. Open the blending options/ layer styles for that layer and put a check in the Drop Shadow for both layers.
    
    
13. Add a Layer. Use a 1 pixel brush set to grey #CCCCCC to draw a line for the string. CLick at the center top and hold shift key down to click at the top of your canvas.
    

Coloring your globe


Click on your globe layer. Control click your globe layer to select the globe. Insert a new layer. Select one of the following combinations of colors for your globe.

globe color	Foreground color	Background Color
Blue	#0033FF	#00FFFF
Red	#990000	#FF00CC
Green	#009900	#33FF00

Use the gradient tool set to Radial Gradient to paint a gradient from upper left to lower right. Set the color layer to COLOR BURN mode.

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Make a Favicon Using Photoshop CS3

You’ve been seeing those assorted tiny icons in the address bar and your bookmarks for some time. Favicons are a way to add a unique touch to webpages. If you have a website or blog of your own, you may have wondered how to make them yourself. While there are icon editors available, you can create your own favicons in Photoshop CS3 using a freeware plugin which allows the image to be saved in the icon format.

Before opening Photoshop, download the plugin from Telegraphics at http://www.telegraphics.com.au. Click on ICO Format and then click on the link for either Windows or Mac. Once unzipped, copy the .8bi file to the Photoshop CS3 Plugins folder and then open Photoshop.

A favicon needs to be 16 by 16 pixels and 8 bit, or 256 colors. Trying to resize a larger image (that you own, have permission to use, or is from the public domain) may not work well due to the loss of quality, though it can be done. To help minimize this problem, you can scale the view of the image you want to use down to the right size, and then hit the Print Screen key on your keyboard. Paste the screenshot into a new image, and then crop it to the right size.

Your other choice is to create the icon by pixelling, or painting pixel by pixel. Use the zoom percentage in the lower left corner of your image to enlarge the view to where you can easily see what you are doing. Make basic shapes echoing your site’s colors, or a more complex drawing if you have experience pixelling. Zoom to the actual size occasionally while you’re working to see how it looks, and make adjustments as needed.

Once you are finished resizing an image or creating one from scratch, click on File and then click on Save. In the Save As menu, click on the Format drop-down and choose ICO (Windows Icon) (*.ICO). Name it the standard favicon, or choose a different name.

Now you are ready to add your favicon to your website or blog. In order for it to display properly, the following HTML coding needs to be added to each page (remove the spaces at the beginning and end)

< rel="”shortcut" href="”favicon.ico”" type="image/x-icon”">

If you named the icon something other than favicon, use the name you chose. If you are using XHTML for coding, remember to put the / before the last bracket or it will not validate.

Save the changes to the pages, and upload them along with your icon to your server. Test your pages and refresh if necessary. Once the favicon appears, you are done.

Adding a little something extra to your blog or site isn’t as hard as it may appear. With a little patience and the freeware plugin, you can make your own favicon.

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Some Basic Photoshop CS3 Effects

One image can yield a wide array of manipulations in Photoshop CS3. Using only filters already built in to the program, users can render the same file into different images for a variety of applications. This tutorial highlights some basic effects which can be achieved in just a few steps.

Open Photoshop CS3; and then open any image which you own, have permission to use, or is in the public domain. Save a copy of the image and then close the original to use again. You may choose to save multiple copies to avoid numerous undo steps.

Textures applied to the whole image can render different appearances. To make an image appear to be under mottled glass, click on Filter, scroll down to Distort, and then click on Glass. In this menu choose Canvas, leave the Scaling at 100%, and then adjust the Distortion and Smoothness to your liking. Give the image a cross-stitch look by clicking on Filter, scrolling down to Texture, and then clicking on Patchwork. A Square Size and Relief of 5 seem to work well for many images.

Change a photo into a painting or drawing by applying basic filters. To convert to a painting, click on Filter, scroll down to Brush Strokes, and then click on Angled Strokes. Make adjustments to the Direction Balance, Stroke Length, and Sharpness until you are satisfied with the preview. Render a quick cartoon drawing by first making a duplicate layer of your image. Click on Layers, and then click on Duplicate Layer. With the Background Copy layer active, click on Filter, scroll down to Artistic, and then click on Poster Edges. The default settings should be sufficient, though you can make adjustments as you choose. Click OK to exit the Poster Edges menu. Go back to Filter, down to Artistic, and click on Cutout. In this menu, Number of Levels and Edge Simplicity set at 4, with Edge Fidelity set at 2 appear to give a great effect.

Converting an image to grayscale in Photoshop used to mean simply using the Desaturate option. Photoshop CS3 has introduced the Black and White adjustment, allowing for more control. Click on Image, scroll to Adjustments, and then click on Black & White. Explore the Presets and move the sliders around to get a feel for the customization available. Place a check in the Tint box to give the image a sepia or monotone appearance.

Basic manipulations can be quick and easy in Photoshop CS3. A few simple steps allow users to alter images for graphic and web design, scrapbooking, or any other application. Apply one effect or several for a variety of results.

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Paint Like Monet Using Photoshop Paintbrush Tool

Learning to use the paintbrush in Photoshop is easy. You will be creating original works of art within minutes. The Photoshop paintbrush has more uses than you might imagine. When you get good with the paintbrush you will be able to create some awesome graphics.

Photoshop has two types of paintbrushes you will be using.

Airbrush

The first type of paintbrush available in Photoshop is the airbrush. This paintbrush tool is very much like using a can of spray paint. It virtually sprays the paint onto the image or canvas. Photoshop gives the user maximum control by allowing you to adjust the diffusion or amount of pain being applied as well as the speed with which it is applied to the canvas. There are also many different brush sizes and shapes you can use.

Paintbrush

The paintbrush tool is more like using an actual paintbrush and applying paint by hand. Much like using a real paintbrush the virtual paintbrush in Photoshop applies paint in much more even distribution compared with the airbrush tool.

You will have fun experimenting with the different options available for creating digital works of art using the paintbrush in Photoshop. The best thing about it is that you don’t have to worry about mistakes as you would on a traditional canvas using real paint. This is especially true if you are working in layers. If you don’t like your results simply delete that layer and try something else.

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