Leona's Photoshop Blog Spot

15 Great FREE Photoshop Brush sites

2012-01-16T11:47:00.005-06:00

Are you creative? Then you probably enjoy Photoshop brushes.
Here is a nice site to browse for hundreds of Photoshop brushes to create effects like shown below.

Need to learn how to load these brushes into Photoshop?
Check out my previous blog for instructions.
Brushes!

Photoshop Free Textures

2012-01-09T08:17:00.000-06:00

There are a lot of wonderful things you can do with textures. For example, in a previous post I showed you how to create a beautiful textured effect on a photograph as shown on the left.

I wanted to share another site with thousands of free textures that you can select from and download.

Enjoy experimenting with your photographs using some of these amazing textures!

Photoshop CS6 - Wonderful new tool?

2012-01-02T11:27:00.000-06:00

I'm already looking for rumors about Photoshop CS6. Here is something that I'm hoping will be included.
I love the Content Aware Fill feature and use it a lot, but it's not perfect.
I've also played with the Content Aware Scale a few times to remove unwanted backgrounds. But again, it wasn't perfect.

The solution MAY be coming in the next version of Photoshop. I'm keeping all my fingers crossed.
This new tool called PatchMatch, will take these two features and make our Photoshopping dreams come true. It's a structural image editing tool that runs an algorithm to take Content Aware tools to new levels!
Check it out and keep your fingers crossed that we'll be seeing this feature in the next version of Photoshop.

Photoshop - What is Threshold?

2011-12-27T09:37:00.000-06:00

There are several ways to adjust the dark and light areas of a photograph. I usually use the Levels tool but you might want to take a look at a tool called Threshold. Let's take a look at how I fixed my old family photo taken in Austria.
Start by creating a new adjustment layer using Threshold. The Threshold tool allows me to see what areas should be white and black in this faded old photograph.

Slide the triangle from right to left to see what should be white. In this example it was the paper in the hands of the family.
Then I slide the the white triangle from left to right to see where the blacks came in. The first data seen was below the skirt.

Knowing this I created a new adjustment layer - Levels. I selected the white eye dropper for the paper and the black eye dropper tool for the shadow under the skirt. And TA DA! I have a restored photograph!

If desired, use the mid-tone eyedropper to select what should be about 50% gray. Keep clicking with the mid-tone dropper until you like the finished results.
Here is a movie on how I did this.
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

FREE Gift Tags

2011-12-22T08:49:00.000-06:00

A gift for you that's just in time.
Free gift tags!

Select your favorite then just print them out.
http://www.freeprintablegifttags.net/

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL MY PHOTOSHOP FRIENDS!

Photoshop - create snow effects on photograph

2011-12-19T04:37:00.000-06:00

Let's take a look at how you can create the illusion of snow coming down on a photograph in only a few steps.

First make sure you have Photoshops default colors of Black as the foreground color and white as the background color.
Create a new layer - Edit > Fill > 50% gray
Filter > Noise > Add Noise (400% Gaussian with Monochronmatic)
Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur (2.0 pixels)
Image > Adjustment > Levels (move triangle slides to the right until it looks like snow)
Change the blend mode of this layer to Screen

Enjoy the home made snow!

Free Holiday Templates for your photos

2011-12-12T09:03:00.002-06:00

Just in time for the Holidays!

I'm repeating an old post because it's still one of my favorites.
If you want to print out photos to include in your holiday mailings, how about adding a really festive border first?
HP Creative Studio has numerous frames that you can upload and drop a photo into. There's no need to even create an account. Just upload some photos and drag and drop them into the frame of your choice. Then, select print and print it out on some nice photo paper.What about creating your own custom greeting cards? Yup, you can do that too!HP Creative Studio allowed me to add some custom text both inside and out and allowed me to print my card directly to my printer.

How about custom gift tags? They even have a template that allows you to drop your own photo into. And the best part of course....it's all FREE.

How neat is that!?Click on the link below to enter their site.
HP Creative Studio

Happy Holidays!

Leona :-)

Great Christmas Fonts

2011-12-09T08:43:00.002-06:00

Want to make your Christmas letter or card look awesome?
Enjoy these FREE Christmas fonts!
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/37226/desktop-fun-merry-christmas-fonts/

Photoshop Diasters!

2011-12-05T08:40:00.008-06:00

This week instead of focusing on what you should do in Photoshop. I'd like to share what you should never do in Photoshop.
These should make you smile and feel better about any Photoshop "oops" you may have had in the past.

Photoshop Diasters

Holiday Bonus

Do any online shopping and wish you had that coupon code to plug in??

Check my other Blog where I share various computer tips and tricks.

http://digitalperfection.blogspot.com/2011/11/best-sites-for-promotional-codes.html

Photoshop - Great selection shortcuts

2011-11-28T08:45:00.004-06:00

Have you ever been working on an image trying to adjust the color or brightness and nothing is happening?!
This problem could be caused by a couple of things.

You might be on the wrong layer
You might have a small selection somewhere that you didn't notice

Here is a picture of my kitty Echo. I wanted to add a little more contrast but it seemed nothing was happening when I moved the sliders.
Note the selection around the paw. Photoshop was trying to add contrast to just this selection.
A quick shortcut to get rid of a selection is CTRL/CMD D. This quickly deselects any area or object that you might have had selected.

Here is another great trick with selections.
The marking ants indicating a selection is made but it is distracting and making it hard to see the edges as you adjust you can use the CTRL/CMD H to hide the "ants" allowing you to see the entire selection change (including the detail in the edges) without the extra animation you get with making selections. Hitting CTRL/CMD H again brings the selection outline back.
Of course, I've forgotten at times that I've hid the selection making the first trick of deselecting everything very useful!
Enjoy!

My video of the month - Boosting your Wifi signal with a beer can

Photoshop - Adjustment layer trick

2011-11-21T08:36:00.018-06:00

Here is a neat trick when working with Adjustment Layers in Photoshop.
The next time you create an adjustment layer to fix something like brightness and contrast, if the adjustment doesn't do enough just double the effect.
Here is how you do that.
Just drag the adjustment layer down to the new layer icon in the bottom of the layers palette. This doubles the effect of the adjustment layer.
If the effect is too much you can adjust the opacity of the duplicated layer to get just the effect you need.

Photoshop - Creating GOLD!

2011-11-14T11:42:00.016-06:00

What's better than GOLD nowadays? Gold seems to be more popular than ever before.
So today, I'm going to show you how to create your own gold (at least the look of gold) for FREE!
Photoshop comes with a lot of nice Styles that can be added to a layer with text, or objects that give you really nice effects.
If you are new to Styles check my previous blog on how to use them, where to find some free Styles, and how to add them to your Photoshop Styles pallet by clicking here.
Creating the look of gold can be time consuming. You'd have to apply numerous filters to get the look you want. Or, how about a free download of 30 Free various gold Styles that you can choose from? Today I'm including a link to these gold Styles. Just load them into your Styles pallete and get ready to impress your friends with the look of gold.
Free Gold Styles
Enjoy!

Movie of the Month!
I thought a basketball playing dog was just done with Hollywood movie magic until I saw this.

Photoshop - Applying Filters to Text and Objects

2011-11-07T11:41:00.000-06:00

One of the problems with text in Photoshop is, you can't apply filters to create special effects. Photoshop will give you a message that the text needs to be rasterized first. What that means is Photoshop wants to turn the text into just an object on the screen. The problem with that is you can't go back later to edit your text if you rasterize it.

There is a solution however! It involves turning the text layer into a Smart Object. (click here to learn about smart objects)

Right click on your text layer and select "Convert to Smart Object"
Apply the filter effect you want for your text
Your text has been saved as a separate file within Photoshop. Double click your text layer to open and edit it.
Save the text by closing and saving this Smart Object file within your Photoshop document
Your filter still appears on your new edited text

You can also use this same procedure on objects you've added to a layer.
Want to watch how I did this
watch video

BONUS TIPS

2011-11-04T16:52:00.000-05:00

I try to post mostly about Photoshop on this blog. However, if you are ever interested in other computer Tips and Tricks check out my other blog at:

http://digitalperfection.blogspot.com/

This week I share information about where to get Free password manager software!

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Leona

Free and Easy File Sharing

2011-11-01T12:39:00.001-05:00

Here is another great file sharing site called justbeamit.
Drag and drop a file, < 2GB in size, into the drop zone (box with highlighted border). A link will show that you can send to share the file, and you should see the message "waiting for recipient..."
Once your recipient starts downloading the file, the progress will start moving. Do NOT close the page at any point until the transfer is complete, as this will stop the transfer. JustBeamIt relies on you keeping your window open in order to transfer the file.
Just dragn n' drop then share the URL. How easy is that?

http://justbeamit.com/

Photoshop Fabulous 3D Effects

2011-10-31T08:08:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the Vandelay Design blog, I found a really neat 3D Action that beats what I can do in a few steps manually in Photoshop. Let's take a look at how I got from the above image to the image below.
There are 2 files to download, a starburst image file and the Action itself.
Go to this blog to download the files.
Next you just need to load and run the Action. (How to load and work with Actions)
Just running the Action I downloaded and hitting the Enter key a couple of times turned the above graphic from what you see above, to the cool graphic you see below.
There are several options/windows that open allowing you to edit the size of the shadow etc. but for the first time I ran through it I found it easiest to just click OK or hit the Return key until all the processes finish,
When the Action is done, you'll need to select the layers that the starbursts are on and move them to the spots of your choice.

What I love about this Action is that it not only works with text, but there is an option to run this Action on shapes and layers too.
How easy is that?
Enjoy!

Photoshop - Sneak Preview of frantastic new sharpen feature

2011-10-24T08:35:00.013-05:00

Photoshop does it again. A new tool that actually sharpens an image!
Of course we have all the sharpen tools but all they really do is to find edges and add more contrast, thus giving the illusion of sharpness.

Photoshop will be coming out (no date planned as of yet) with a tool to truly remove movement/blur. This new tool analyzes the trajectory of motion while the lens was open and runs a complicated algorithm to correct the blur.

I don't know about you but I have a couple of photos in mind that I can't wait to try this out on.

Check out this video at 1:18 for the magic!
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/10/11/adobe-demos-incredible-unblur-feature-for-photoshop/

Photoshop - Custom Halloween Shapes

2011-10-10T04:54:00.002-05:00

Just in time for Halloween! Here are some custom shapes to use in Photoshop.

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshopdownloads/ss/halloween.htm

To add these shapes:
Place the *.csh files into:
Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop X\Presets\Custom Shapes where X is the version number for your version of Photoshop.
To load a file, go to the Styles palette, then click the small arrow in the top right corner and choose one of the layer style collections from the menu.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Even more Free Photoshop Brushes

2011-10-03T08:10:00.000-05:00

As the page mentions: "Take all these fabulous Photoshop brushes for the low, low price of $0 down and $0 per month!

If your last name begins with a letter between A and Z, you may download these amazing free Photoshop CS5, CS4, and CS3 brushes today. All others may download tomorrow."
http://www.creativepro.com/article/free-all-photoshop-brushes-blowout

Want to get even more FREE brushes and see how to load them into Photoshop?
Check out my previous blog.

I just love the word FREE! Enjoy!

Photoshop - Metadata 101 and How to add Copyright to a photograph

2011-09-26T08:30:00.001-05:00

I've heard of metadata but what is it all about?

Lets take a simple look at what metadata is and where you can find it.

EXIF data (Exchangeable Image File) is the metadata that comes from your camera and is attached to your image file.

Where Can I See the EXIF Data?

Camera: There are a number of places to view EXIF data, starting with right on your own camera. In general, when previewing your images on your camera, pressing the “Info” button will lead to the EXIF data for the photo you are previewing. Each camera may have a slightly different method for viewing the EXIF data, so if you are having trouble the information will be available in your camera’s user manual under EXIF.

On Your Computer: For JPEG and TIFF images, you can right click on the image icon on your hard drive, and scroll to “Properties” (PC) or “Get Info” (Mac). You may have to explore the dialog box which pops up when you select either of these options. For example, in Windows you would click on the Summary Tab, then click on the “Advanced” button.

In Photoshop – File - Info - Camera data (shown above) note I can see what kind of camera took the photo, and even if the flash fired.

Adding your own copyright metadata
Go to File - Info - Description (see photo at left)
You can add your name, keywords and copyright information here.

What if you decide you want to remove metadata from your photograph. Let's take a look how to do this.
Photoshop - Removing metadata
File - Save for web and devices - Metadata - none
Or, copy and paste the image into a new document window.

I hope this short tutorial makes metadata a little easy to understand. Now you'll be able to add copyright information right inside any of your photographs.

Video of the month!
I just love British humor. Take a look at this optical illusion and have a GREAT week!

Photoshop - How to control the size of your saved image

2011-09-19T08:14:00.002-05:00

Have you ever needed to save an image at a certain file size like 122k etc?
You can't easily do that by changing the options of High, Medium, resolution when saving. You can only get close.
If you need to be more precise on the size of the image do the following:
When saving your image go to File > Save for Web and Devices
Select one of the .jpg frames, in this case with 2-Up I selected the bottom image to save as .jpg
Adjust the Quality slider anywhere from 1 to 100 and watch the size of your image in the lower left side of the screen.
When you have the size you need, click Save.

Need even more control?

You can specify a specific size for your image.
Again, go to File > Save for Web and Devices
This time click on the little drop-down menu in the upper right hand side of the window and select "Optimize to File Size". (shown below)
Type in the size the file needs to be.
Now you can type in the exact size the file needs to be.

Photoshop - Color correction using clipping points

2011-09-12T08:26:00.005-05:00

Various lighting can cause color problems. Incandescent lights can be a real pain causing the photograph to come out really yellow.
Auto Levels can sometimes fix color issues but not always. Let's take a look at a trick to fix color problems within in Levels area.
When you select Image > Adjustments > Levels note the drop down menu under RGB. Here you can adjust all 3 of the color channels.
Note that in my example I need to move the left slider over to the left side of the histogram to start bringing in the Reds. The right slider is OK but if needed, I would have slide the right triangle to the left where color data actually exists. These are called "clipping points".
Do this for the Green and the Blue channels. Check your photograph with color problems after doing this. You'll be surprised at how much better your photograph looks!
Click HERE to watch my movie on how I did this.

Photoshop - Default Layer Style

2011-09-05T08:03:00.002-05:00

When adding text to Photoshop, I have a favorite shadow style that I almost always use. However, I don't always remember exactly what my settings are each time I use that style.
Here is a way to consistently get the same look with styles. Edit the style (it could be shadow, bevel, etc.) then click the "Make Default" button in the Layer Styles Menu box.
The next time you decide to use that style and want to match what you've saved, just click on the "Rest to Default" button. Photoshop remembers where all the sliders and adjustments should be for that particular style.
Now, I don't have to try to remember or guess how I get my favorite drop shadow.
The best part is, you can set a default style for any of the styles!

Manage duplicate photographs with Free software!

2011-08-29T08:15:00.007-05:00

If you're like me, you have hundreds or even thousands of photographs on your computer. I have some of my favorites in numerous spots taking up valuable hard disk space!
Here is where VisiPics comes in to clean things up.
It scans your entire photo collection looking for duplicate photographs. It doesn't looks for duplicate file names, it looks at the actual file information even at different resolutions or file types.
The results are photographs displayed side-by-side with all the relevant information for each. Just click on the duplicates that you wish to remove. After you've selected all the duplicates just click the REMOVE button. When clicking on an image the images information, size, file type display in the lower menu.
I usually just save the original Photoshop .psd file and remove duplicate .jpg files so that I have original resolution and quality. I can always save a .jpg file out from my Photoshop document.
What an easy way to remove unneeded duplicate files and clean up your computer.
VISIPICS

Photoshop - Close all open tabs tips

2011-08-22T07:45:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you but I find it annoying when I'm closing out of Photoshop and have several windows/tabs open that I need to answer the question "Save changes before closing?" time after time.
If there is nothing that I need to save here is a quick trick to save you from clicking "No" for all open images.

The next time you have numerous tabs open and are sure you don't have anything you need to save do this.

Select File > Close All. Select the box that says "Apply to All" then click "Don't Save". This of course works for saving all images too.

But be VERY CAREFUL that there are no open images that you really do want to save.

Photoshop - Great Layers Tips

2011-08-15T13:36:00.013-05:00

Do you ever use the same layer style over and over again because you really like it?
Here is a neat trick you can do now in CS5.
In this example I've set a Drop Shadow with a Gradient Overlay set just the way I like. To have these settings come up by default just click the Make Default button in the bottom of the Layer Style palette.
The next time you click on Layer Style your settings will be in place.

You could also save a style you've created by clicking the "New Style" button. Later you can always retrieve it later by clicking "Styles" link and you'll see your newly created style listed. Just click your style to apply it to your object or text on your layer.

You can save as many styles as you like. By saving styles you can keep a consistent look to what you are creating or a look that you prefer.

What a nice way to save time and be consistent!

Now for my bonus tip.
Here is a site with great graphs to let you can see how the temperature changes throughout the day. Having a picnic at 4:00 p.m.? There are also time-based graphs for cloud cover and precipitation.
Just enter your location and all the weather information you need and more will be provided for the day in easy to read graphs.
http://weatherspark.com

Photoshop - Brush size outline is gone!

2011-08-08T08:31:00.000-05:00

Have you ever selected your Photoshop brush, only to find that your cursor displays as a crosshair and you can’t see the brush outline?
I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how this happens and finally learned what I had done. I had the CAPS LOCK on!

This can be very useful when you need to do detail work, but if you don't realize you have Caps Lock on it can lead to cursor frustration! You can imagine the frustration of my brush size only appearing as a cross hair when I know I've set it to Normal!

You can change how your working tool displays by going to Preferences and selecting Cursor.

If your preferences are set to Normal (or Brush Tip) cursors, Caps Lock will temporarily switch to Precise cursors. If your preferences are already set to Precise, Caps Lock will temporarily switch to Normal. Turning off Caps Locks takes you back to your chosen cursor style.

Now I can control what I see by purposely pressing the Caps Lock to toggle between Normal and Precise cursors.

Hidden Actions for Special Effects

2011-08-01T08:16:00.008-05:00

Actions are powerful tools in Photoshop. An Action is a recording of numerous Photoshop steps playable with one mouse click. If you are new to Actions, check out this introduction.

Did you know there are more Actions that came with Photoshop that aren't listed in the Actions Panel?
These Actions are found in the upper right hand corner of the Actions panel. Click the icon for the fly-out menu (shown at left) to see numerous special effects that you can apply to your photos or text.

In this example I loaded an Action called Frames and used "Photo Corners" to create this neat effect.

Want some Free Actions that you can load and play in Photoshop? Check my previous blog post about where to get them.

Want to watch how I did this? Check my video below.
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Protect your photographs

2011-07-18T09:50:00.002-05:00

You've probably uploaded numerous photos. These photographs could be on Facebook, a website, or a photo storage site somewhere. I have a lot of my photographs online that I sell with iStockphoto.
How do you know if people are "borrowing" your pictures?
There's an easy way to find out. You can search for your image on TinEye. Just upload your image or specify the image URL.
This is an easy way to see how your photographs are being used.
Granted it won't catch everything but it's a good start.
At least you'll see where else your photo appears online!
http://www.tineye.com/

Color replacement in Photoshop

2011-07-11T15:32:00.005-05:00

Have you ever wanted to replace a color in a photograph? It's not that hard to do. You could have some fun doing something like this.
I don't know how practical this is but, you could use the technique we are about to learn to enhance sky color etc. Or perhaps Uncle Earls shirt color just doesn't suite him. Let's take a look at how the "Replace Color" feature works in Photoshop and how I did this.
If you want to use the same image you can download it at one of my favorite free photograph sites. This giraffe is at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/345097.
Open your file in Photoshop then do the following:

Duplicate your image layer (drag and drop the layer onto the new layer icon in the Layers panel) It's ALWAYS good practice to protect the original image.
On the duplicated layer go to Image - Adjustments - Replace Color (photo on right).
Use the "+" eyedropper to select the color you want to replace on your photograph. Continue to click with the "+" eyedropper until you get all of the area you need. You'll see our image change in the background.
Adjust the Hue slider to the color you want to change to. (Or, double click inside the Result color to specify your color replacement)
Adjust the fuzziness to get more or less color replacement on edges while fine tuning the Saturation and Lightness. You could use the "-" eyedropper if you make a mistake to remove an area.
Watch the changes on the image in the background on your open photo.
Click OK when you are satisfied with the selection and color replacement.
The image is almost perfect except in this case, the hand which just barely shows on the far right edge of the photograph also turned purple. This is where the Layer Mask comes in.
Add a Layer Mask to your new layer. (Click the layer mask icon in the bottom of the Layers Panel)
Select the Layer Mask icon that appears to the right on your new layer and begin painting with a black soft edged brush to reveal the original hand in the layer below (see last photo).

How fun is that?!
Enjoy the color replacement tool in Photoshop!

Free Online File Conversion

2011-07-04T14:56:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you don't have access to your computer or Photoshop and just need to convert an image to another format.
Here's a neat site that doesn't require you to sign up or download anything. Just upload your file and pick the format you want to convert to.
The next time you are traveling, this could come in handy!

http://zamzar.com/

And now, my video of the month. There are certain things people just won't give up. For example a VCR, 8 tracks, etc. They just don't want to let go of the old technology completely for the new.
Here is something that will keep everyone happy.

Access your photographs anywhere on any device

2011-06-27T11:12:00.003-05:00

I recently started using a great site to store and share my photographs. It's Dropbox.com. It's a little different than the other sharing sites.
So many times I want to transfer a file from my home computer to work, from my Macintosh to my Windows computer, or even from my iPad to my office computer.
I end up using my USB Flash drive or even emailing the file to myself.
I now have a simple solution at dropbox.com
I created a free account on their site then download their software to my Macintosh, Windows computer, iPad and my Droid.
On my Macintosh, my Dropbox sits at the top of my screen. On my Windows computer, I find it down in the system tray.

Now, I can just drag and drop my files to my Dropbox space. I can access my file(s) from any of my devices.
To create an account go to http://dropbox.com. You'll get up to 2 GB of Free storage space. Additional storage space can be purchased if needed. If I keep my files up to date and cleaned out, I have plenty of room using my free account.
You can even create and choose folders to share your photos or any documents with others.
My life just got a little easier!

Photoshop - The Magic of Vibrance

2011-06-20T08:31:00.003-05:00

In the past, I would add more color to a photograph by using the Saturation Tool.
Here is an old photo of my brother, dad, grandfather and great grandfather taken around 50 years ago.
The photo is a little faded and has dulled over the years.
Vibrance is a newer feature in Photoshop since CS4 that I've fallen in love with so that now, I hardly ever use the Saturation tool. Virbrance is a huge improvement over Saturation!
Take a look at my experiment below.
To get to the Vibrance tool go to Image > Adjustments > Vibrance.
Here you will see a slider by to adjust both the Vibrance and the Saturation. (note: Saturation adjustments can also be found under Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.)
Saturation used to be a helpful tool but it has one major flaw. It destroys skin tone!
Vibrance is a great tool especially if people are in the photo.
Notice that in the photo on the right, the sky, blue overalls, and the yellow flowers on the ground pop with color and the skins tones are still good.
And of course, using an adjustment layer to make these changes is always the best solution keeping the original photo untouched.
The next time you want to add more color, try using Vibrance.

Photoshop - Placing more than one photo on an image

2011-06-13T13:44:00.004-05:00

Sometime you might want to have two photographs side by side and be just one image instead of two like my example of this Retro look I created.
It's not that hard to do in Photoshop.

The first thing you need to do is check the size of the image you want to add to an existing photo. To do this go to Image > Image Size and check the width of the photo if you plan on adding it to the side like in my example.
Next Select All > Edit > Copy this image.
Open the first image and go to Image > Canvas Size.
Anchor your photo either on the right or left then add the additional pixels in width to your canvas size.
In this case the size was the same so I changed 601 to 1200 anchoring the original image on the left.
Click OK and you'll have enough room to now paste your 2nd image (assuming it is about the same height). If needed you can resize the 2nd photograph to fit the space you just created and move it to the blank area you created on the right side in this case.

Adobe Configurator for Photoshop

2011-06-06T14:19:00.003-05:00

Adobe has a wonderful and FREE tool called Adobe Configurator.
It allows you to create your own custom panel in Photoshop with any of your favorite tools, Actions, or commands.
I have a few tools that I use all the time in Photoshop. Wouldn't it be nice if just the things you used was in one handy panel?
Here is an example of a panel I created with just my favorite Photoshop goodies. The best news is that it isn't hard at all.
Here is all you need to do.

Download the free software at:
http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/configurator.html
After installing the software create a new panel and drag and drop the features you want to be on your panel. When done click "File - Export". The panel is automatically saved in Photoshop's Panels folder for you.
Restart Photoshop and go to "Window - Extensions". Whatever you named your panel will be listed here. Click on it and your customized panel will appear with all your favorite Photoshop features. How handy is that?

Enjoy!
Want to watch my movie on how I did this?
Leona's basic Configurator demo

Create a collage for FREE!

2011-05-30T08:38:00.005-05:00

It's not too difficult to create a collage in Photoshop. However, when you can do it much easier and get it done for FREE what's the point?!
Here is a fun site that lets you pick from various collage designs. I made this one using photographs of my son.
Of course all of the designs aren't available unless you create an account. However there are still several to pick from without having to do anything or needing to register, like the one I made.
Just go to the following site http://www.photovisi.com/ pick a layout, and upload up to 31 of your favorite photographs.
A window will open asking if you want to share it on Facebook etc. that you can just close to get to the finished result.
How easy is that?
Enjoy!

Now for my video of the month.
Words are powerful. They can destroy, comfort or even change the world. Choose your words carefully and maybe, we can make this a better world one sentence at a time.

Neat trick with the Lasso Tool in Photoshop

2011-05-23T16:24:00.003-05:00

Here is something to try the next time you are using the polygonal selection tool in Photoshop.
While making your straight line selections hold down your alt or opt key to quickly switch to your free form lasso tool.
Let go of the alt or opt key to go back to the straight edge lasso.
What a neat way to quickly switch and customize your selection!

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Photoshop - Healing Brush tutorial

2011-05-16T13:10:00.004-05:00

Let's take a look at a neat way to get rid of fly-away hairs among other problems.
The Healing Brush tool works like magic on removing power lines, fly away hairs or a long "line" of something that you'd like to get rid of.
The healing brush is hidden under the Spot Healing Brush (good for removing spots)
Select the Healing Brush and in the Options bar make sure you have a soft edged brush and the size should be just slightly larger than the "line" you want to remove.
Select your sample point (where PS will copy from) close to the problem area by holding down the alt/opt key and mouse button both at the same time. (You'll see a little bulls-eye appear when doing this)
Next, start painting the problem area. Photoshop carefully adjusts all the pixels so that the textures and lighting still match and all the surrounding pixels blend in like magic.
Resample and paint as needed until the entire problem is gone.
The healing brush also works great on power lines, scars, wrinkles, or any long area of trouble.
You'll wonder how you ever lived without it!
Want to watch how I fixed this fly-away hair problem?

Click here to watch the video

Photoshop - Neat Lens Flare Trick

2011-05-09T07:52:00.005-05:00

Want to master the Lens Flare tool in Photoshop?
Here is all you need to do.
Go to Filter > Render > Select Lens Flare.
Now, before you click OK, in the preview window you can move exactly where the lens flare should be.
Then click OK.

Want to take it to the next level?
For those who understand a little about Blending Modes take a look at how you can later edit where your lens flare appears on your photograph.
Watch my video on how it's done.
Cheers!

Video of the Month

2011-05-06T18:27:00.002-05:00

I've gotten behind in posting my video of the month so I wanted to make it up to you.
I LOVE animals, dogs, cats....anything with fur....
Enjoy your weekend my friends!
http://youtu.be/nGeKSiCQkPw

Photoshop - Drag and Drop from photo to photo

2011-05-02T08:20:00.001-05:00

Here is a neat trick to quickly drag and drop an open photograph into a new layer on a photo you already have open.
In this example I wanted the sledding photograph inside the winter photograph.
Here is what I did.
With the sledding photo open I selected the Move tool.
I then held the move tool over my photo then dragged this image to the tab that had my winter scene.
The winter photo opened when I moused over the tab then I released the mouse button to drop it on the winter snow photo and creating a new layer for my sledding photo on the winter photo.
How fun is that?
Watch how I did it here.

Photoshop - Fast Easy Border

2011-04-25T08:50:00.003-05:00

Want to create a nice photo in just a couple of steps?
Here is all you need to do.

Select a background color that you want your border to be.
Select the crop tool and select the entire photograph.
Next, drag the edges of the crop OUTSIDE the selected area.
Then, confirm your crop.

Borders were never so easy!
Watch my movie on how I did this.

P.S. That's me in the middle having fun on the family farm in Nebraska a LONG time ago. ;-)
Don't forget to have some fun today.

Photoshop - Best way to straighten a crooked photo

2011-04-18T13:39:00.003-05:00

I'll admit that I rarely hold the camera straight when taking a photograph. It's especially true when I'm in a hurry. Our anniversary trip to St. Lucia shows my crooked photograph problem clearly.
I used to select the photograph then use Edit > Transform > Rotate and try to rotate by eye to get my image straight with the horizon. However, it was mostly a guessing game.
Here is a much better and faster way.
Select the ruler tool hidden under the eyedropper.
In the Options bar select "Straighten".
That's it. Photoshop magically straightens and crops the photo for me. No more crooked photographs!
Click here to watch my video on how I did this.
Cheers!

Video of the month

2011-04-15T10:48:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted my video of the month for several months so I thought I had better get with it!
Take a look at this prank and remember, you're never too old to have fun!
http://youtu.be/0CN_HrkBlRs

Photoshop - Great shortcuts to know

2011-04-11T07:57:00.000-05:00

I love to use Photoshop's shortcut keys. I can't believe how much time I end up saving and now I use them without even thinking about it.

Some of Photoshop's shortcuts display in the toolbar. For example. If I want to quickly go to the brush tool, I would click B on the keyboard and I'm ready to brush.

To switch to the Lasso tools click L, click T for the text tool and so on.

Just open up the tools you like you use the most and see what the shortcut key is to quickly access this tool.

There are more shortcuts that aren't that obvious so today I'd like to share some of my favorites with you. Some you may already know and others I'm betting, will become your favorite shortcuts too.

Give these a try!

Caps Lock switches your cursor to Plus sign for precision, while working with painting or editing tools.

Holding Spacebar will change you current tool to Hand Tool, temporarily.

Alt + Mouse Scroll changes the zoom level

Pressing Tab will hide toolbar and panels, while Shift + Tab will only hide panels. This is one the most used trick in Photoshop.

Open a file and press F button, it switches among the 3 different screen modes so you can easily choose the best workspace or view your current image without the clutter

Ctrl + D to deselect everything, and Ctrl+Shift+D to reselect what you deselected.

Double clicking the Hand Tool will provide you the largest full image preview possible.

Double clicking the Zoom Tool sets the zoom level to 100%.

CTRL + AND – TO ZOOM IN AND OUT

Pressing D will resets the foreground and background colors to default (mostly Black and White)

Pressing X will swap the foreground and background colors.

Want a printout of Photoshop's shortcuts? Check this post for instructions how.

Broken photo effects

2011-04-04T15:19:00.003-05:00

Want to create some special effects of a broken photo?

It's not too hard to create effects like these. Let's take a look at how easy it is.

First create a blank white layer below your photograph.
Next create a layer mask on the photo layer.
Fill the layer mask with black.
Select any interesting brush and add Scattering and Shape Dynamics in the brushes palette.
Paint on the layer mask with white.
With the layer mask selected add a drop shadow for even more effects!

Want to watch how it's done? Click here for a video tutorial.
Enjoy!

Photoshop - Overlay and Soft Light Blending Modes

2011-03-28T04:32:00.000-05:00

Want to create some really neat special effects and give texture to a photo?
I used a photograph of a sunflower field and Photoshop's layer Blend Modes to create this photo.
Simply add a layer with a texture above your image layer. Then, change the textured layer's blend mode to Overlay, Soft Light or Hard Light to get the effect as shown on the left.
Want to see my video on how I did this and learn a little more about blending modes?
Check out my step by step tutorial.
overlay_blend_mode

Photoshop - How to add a simple border

2011-03-21T08:26:00.004-05:00

A border around a photograph can make all the difference in the world.
Here's a hint about borders.
If want want to draw attention to something inside the photograph, match the border color to that area. Note how the light yellow draws attention to the straw hat in my example.

Let's see how easy it is to create a border.

Open your photograph. In the layers palette make sure that if it's a background image you rename the layer so you can edit it.
Go to Layers > Style > Stroke
Change Position to Inside
Adjust the size and color of the stroke/border you want.

Here is my movie showing how it's done and how to customize the border to match an object inside the photograph.

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Free Retro look photograph

2011-03-16T13:30:00.004-05:00

Film cameras are all but gone. However, you can still create that neat retro look for free.
Here I've uploaded one of my favorite photographs shortly after we adopted my son Jim. The look on my son's and husband's faces is priceless.
MakeRetro.com let me upload my photo, and choose between 4 awesome retro looks. You don't even need to create an account. Just upload your photo, select a retro style, then download your finished photo.
It couldn't be any easier!
http://makeretro.com/

Keep your software updated and safe for free

2011-03-14T08:54:00.003-05:00

Is your software up to date? If not, your computer could be at risk.
Secunia Personal Software Inspector is a FREE tool to find out-dated software and plug-ins then let you know where to go to update them.

PC World says “Secunia PSI won't do away with the need to run a good antivirus program and firewall on your PC. But it provides a solid layer of free protection that no PC should do without”.

I'm way over due for my video of the month.
I like this video because of 2 reasons.
I love slow motion. It's amazing what you miss in life unless you see something in slow motion.
Combine that with a large dose of cuteness and you get the following. Enjoy!

Photoshop - Coloring a black and white photograph

2011-03-07T09:31:00.002-06:00

My mom and dad's wedding photographs were taken in black and white. My mom had always told me how beautiful the yellow flowers were and that my dad had on a stunning blue suit. You can imagine her surprise when I scanned in the old photograph and added the color that wasn't there before!

Let me show you how easy it really is.

Open your black and white photo and copy it to a new layer
Under Image > Mode > change it to RGB if it isn't already
Select your foreground color then select a soft edged brush
In the options palette for the brush change Mode to Color
Change the opacity of the brush down from 100% (try 70-80% to start)
Start painting in color - adjust the size of the brush as needed
If you overpaint into an area you didn't want, just use the sponge tool set to desaturate to remove the extra color

Want to watch my example? Click my movie below. Enjoy!

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Free Photoshop Filter from Adobe Labs

2011-02-28T13:29:00.002-06:00

Photoshop has enough filters for hours of entertainment. However, there will never be enough filters for me to play with in Photoshop.
Here's an interesting and best of all FREE filter from Adobe Labs called Pixel Bender. Some of the effects were just weird but I found that it can create some very interesting art.
To download the plug-in click here, or watch the video to see if it might be something you'd like to try.
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Share LARGE files with ease!

2011-02-21T14:12:00.004-06:00

Have you ever tried to email a large file to someone only to get the message back with errors caused by the file being too big? It can be very annoying.
I used to use a neat site called drop.io. However, they are no longer offering this free service. The site I use and love now is called wikisend.
I love it because it is Easy, Free, and no need to even create an account. Just go to the site, upload your file and then send the link it provides to whomever you want.
The link is good for 7 days and it provides you with a Big "Download file" button to make it a snap for your receiver to find and download you file.
How KEWL is that?

http://wikisend.com/
Bonus tip
Google has done it again with the Google Art Project. You can navigate through various museums similar to Google's street view. The paintings have been captured in amazing high-resolution enabling you to zoom in to see the finest details on selected paintings.
Enjoy a trip to a famous art gallery without leaving your chair. Enjoy!
http://www.googleartproject.com/

Artist's new plans

2011-02-18T09:05:00.003-06:00

We never know for sure where life leads us. Sometimes we find that everything we need is within a hugs reach.
Have a great weekend.

"Family Man" from Trevor Little on Vimeo.

Photoshop - Better color editing tip

2011-02-14T11:47:00.001-06:00

COLOR PROBLEMS
Sometimes you have problems with the color in a photograph. Photoshop has a nice tool called "Auto Color". You can find this tool under Image > Auto Color
Sometimes it works great and sometimes it doesn't. What do you do if Auto Color doesn't do the trick?

It seems like Photoshop always has more than one way to fix a problem. I'll show you just a couple of ways including my favorite way.

First you could go to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance
Here you can fiddle with opposites. Too much magenta? Then slide toward the opposite which is green.

The problem with this method is, if you didn't duplicate your image to a new layer, you've done permanent "damage" to your open image.

This is where we're going to use an adjustment layer. (What is, and how do I make an adjustment layer?)

Open the layers panel and add a "Levels" adjustment layer. With the Levels panel open use the pull-down menu to adjust the histogram of your Red, Green and Blue channels so that the histogram looks even.
In my example, I'm working on the Green channel. I can see that I need to adjust the white and mid-tone points by dragging the triangles to the left.
I did this for all the color channels. I also keep an eye on my open image while I'm doing my adjusting.

Remember to always save a native .psd document of your image. If you want to go back and make adjustments to your colors or revert back to the original image you'll need the .psd document in order to edit the layers you've created.

Want to see how I did this? Check the video below.
Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Simple and FREE Image editing

2011-02-07T08:30:00.001-06:00

I do a lot with Photoshop however, the learning curve and expense keeps people like my mom from even considering using it. That's where Easy Image Modifer comes in.
You can resize, rename, and change the format in just a few simple mouse clicks. It's easy and of course the best part....it's FREE.
Now life is a little bit easier for my friends and family that want to keep things simple!
Take a look at it below or check our their website at http://www.inspire-soft.net/?nav=soft_easyimagemodifier

Photoshop - Putting text on a curve or path

2011-01-31T14:43:00.007-06:00

*This tutorial is best for the more advanced Photoshop user.

Have you ever wanted to have your text follow a curve or path?
It's really quite easy to do in Photoshop and I'm going to show you how.
There are a couple of ways to have your text follow a path.
One way is to create a path with Photoshop's Pen tool as seen in this photo. Select the pen tool from the Photoshop menu and click anchor points along the curve you want to post your text on. When you've finished creating your curve select the Text tool.

With the Text tool selected you'll notice that the cursor changes from a straight line to a curved line. Move your cursor to the beginning of your curve until the cursor changes to this curved line as shown in the animation. This is critical or your text won't stick to the curve.
Start typing your text and it will follow the curve you just created with the Pen tool. If your text runs off the curve because the curve is too short or the text font is too large you can edit the font size and color as desired until it fits your curve perfectly. If you want to perfect your curved text even more, open the Character panel from the Windows menu. Here you can edit the spacing of your words and letters by adjusting the kerning and tracking until your curved text is perfect!
Photoshop comes with numerous shapes that work just as well as a custom path you create too. Select the custom shape tool from the menu. Here you can select any shape you want or even select from the additional shapes loaded in the Custom Menu shapes. After you've added your shape you can use the text tool to follow the curves of the shape you just added.

Want to watch my movie on how this is done?

Click HERE.

Clean your new computer of advertising

2011-01-24T11:06:00.000-06:00

There's nothing nicer than a new computer. However, anymore they come with a lot of trial software and Ads.
One of the reasons I buy a new computer because it's clean and fast.
Here is a free tool to remove the stuff you didn't ask for or want on your new computer.
It's called "SlimComputer". When you run this software it takes a look for these "optional" programs, makes a list and then YOU can decide what you want to keep on your new computer.
Who said you couldn't find someone to clean for FREE?
http://www.slimcomputer.com/index.php
And now for my video of the month.

We're all different. But that's what makes us beautiful. What a boring world it would be if we were all the same. What a wonderful world it would be if we could look past our differences and learn to enjoy each other for who we are.
These two friends couldn't be more different. And yet, they were able to connect to each other and find true friendship.

Photoshop - How to create perfect skin

2011-01-17T14:33:00.000-06:00

How can you smooth skin to make it beautiful and yet look realistic? The secret of creating perfect skin isn't too difficult. It helps if you've used Photoshop layers and masks.
Let me take you through the steps to get the results like the above example.
Open your photo and duplicate the background layer by dragging it to the new page icon in the bottom of the layers panel. Do this twice.
We are going to select the middle layer and apply a nice soft blur. To do this select the middle layer then Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur. Only blur enough where the skin blemishes disappear yet you still see the natural contours of the face. Keep you eye on the skin and don't worry about the facial features at this point. The eyes, nose and mouth will be in sharp focus for our final photo because we are going to use a layer mask to "peek" through our top layer down to just the skin in this middle layer.
In my example I used a 1.4 Radius then clicked OK.
Now that you're down applying a nice blur to the middle layer (you could try the surface blur instead of Gaussian blur too) select the top layer.
With the top layer selected the photo looks exactly as it did before. You can't see the blurred layer below at this point. This is where the layer mask comes in. To create a layer mask, select the top layer then click on the mask icon in the bottom of the layers palette. You'll then see a new white mask to paint on. Click on this mask on your top layer.
Think of a layer mask like this. You can paint "holes" in a mask to see the layer below. Now we will paint with black to see the soft skin on the blurred layer below.
Make sure to use a soft edged brush and stay away from the eyes, nose, mouth etc. You only want to see the soft skin below.
What's nice about a layer mask is that if you make a mistake and paint over the eye (then you see a blurry eye) you can paint the layer mask area back with white to cover the layer below.
Now, you know the secret of making perfect skin using Photoshop. You'll be the most popular photographer in the family!
Enjoy!

Photoshop - Resetting tools to fix problems

2011-01-16T13:59:00.032-06:00

Here is something to try the next time a tool is acting weird in Photoshop. Try resetting the tool.

This changes the tools setting back to its default setting.

To do this click on the tool that is acting weird.
Click on the icon of the tool in the Option panel
Select the fly-out menu arrow
Select Reset Tool

If that doesn't work you can select "Reset All Tools".

If both these options don't take care of the weirdness in Photoshop you can reset Photoshop preferences.

If all else fails resetting the preferences to the original settings should get rid of weird things happening in Photoshop.

See my instructions on how to do this on a
previous blog.

Keep your information safe with GOOD passwords

2011-01-10T15:25:00.002-06:00

I forget too many things and would like to keep my life as simple as possible. However, a simple password can be dangerous and a good one can be hard to remember!
Did you know that the worst password you could use is 123456 or abc123. You'd be surprised how often people choose passwords like this.

If you want a password that you can remember but would be hard to break try something like a phrase or song lyric and do something like this.
Harold and I were married in 1979 = haiwmi79 (using just the first letters and a number)
For more information on creating good passwords check this link.

Here is a link to an article about the most commonly used passwords. Hopefully none of these are something that you use.

Top 50 Gawker Passwords

Too many passwords to remember? Try this free software that keeps track of your passwords and you need to only remember one password to get in.

Photoshop - Great Colored Pencil Effect

2011-01-03T13:16:00.015-06:00

Want to create a great colored pencil effect?
Photoshop has a lot of very fine filters that are hours of pure entertainment.
However, sometimes they just don't do what you want no matter what adjustments you can make with them.

I wanted a colored pencil effect.
Take a look at my example.
The first photograph is just a nice picture of a field of sunflowers that I want to apply the colored pencil look to.
When I experimented with Photoshop's colored filter (Filter>Artistic>Colored Pencil) I didn't get the results I wanted as shown in the 2nd photo.
It looks OK but it isn't what I wanted.
I could spend a couple of hours fiddling with various filters and effects and never get the look I want.

That's where an Action comes in handy. Actions are a series of Photoshop steps played in sequence with the click of a button. Actions are found under the "Window" menu in Photoshop.
There are thousands of free Actions out on the web. Some are good some well....not so good.

A search for free Photoshop Actions can give you thousands to select from.
Or, here is a link to a colored pencil action you might like.

Need to know how to find and load an Action into Photoshop and, how to Actions work?

Check my previous blog on using Actions.
Enjoy!

Where can I recycle stuff?

2010-12-27T10:47:00.003-06:00

I have some old electronics, a half gallon of old paint and some batteries to things I no longer own. I don't want to just throw them in the trash but don't know where I can take things locally.
Here is a site to help!

Try http://earth911.com
Just type in what you want to recycle and your location. You'll get a list of sites locally that can recycle your item. Now you can get rid of the things you don't need and, feel good about it.

Now for my video of the month. It's been around a while but if you haven't seen it, you'll enjoy a good laugh. If you have seen it, it's always worth watching again.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

2010-12-25T18:07:00.004-06:00

I love surprises, especially surprises that can make others smile.
Let's make it a better world by sharing a little love and remember, you're never too old to have fun.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
to all my Photoshop friends!

Create watercolor text in Photoshop

2010-12-20T11:41:00.002-06:00

Need some unique looking text? I'll take you throw the steps on how I created the following example:(This tutorial may be difficult for a "beginner". You'll need to know how to work with layers and change blending modes)
First you'll need some artistic looking paper. You can find paper like this online at sites like Bing by just typing in "paper backgrounds" when searching for images.

In my example above I started with File>New>500x300 pixels with a white background.
Create a new layer and fill it with white and name it "Text" (the next 7 steps are done on the Text layer)
Select the Horizontal Type Mask Tool and select a script font (I used Brush Script-see example)
The size of your font will depend on how much text you plan on adding. I used 250 pt.
Type what you want as long as it fits on your canvas
Select>Modify>Feather (4-6 pixels in this example)
Select your paint colors for the foreground and background (I used blue foreground and burgundy background)
Filter>Render>Clouds
Deselect then Filter>Artistic>Watercolor (adjust settings as desired)
Copy and paste your paper picture onto a new layer
Move the "paper" layer below the text layer
Select the text layer and change the blending mode to "Multiply"
For the final touch, change the opacity of the text layer down to around 80%

Now your watercolor painted text is just slightly transparent and looks wonderful on your paper background!
BONUS!

Out of gift tags?
With all chaos during this holiday season, did you forget the gift tags? Not a problem.
Just go to the following site to create custom gift tags! You’ll find themes for any occasion and be able to print them right on your printer and from the comfort of your home.
Merry Christmas!
http://www.dltk-cards.com/tags/tag2.asp

FREE calendar creation

2010-12-13T08:39:00.000-06:00

Sometimes you just would like a calendar to hang on the refrigerator on laying by your phone. Here is a site that lets you create and print a calendar for free.
CalendarLabs lets you can print yearly or monthly calendars.

These calendars can be customized. For example, you can add holidays to your yearly calendar.
It's simple, customizable and the best part, it's free.

http://www.calendarlabs.com/

And now, for my movie of the month.
There is beauty all around us. Take the time to enjoy our beautiful world my Photoshop friends.

Photoshop - Layer Styles Tips

2010-12-06T16:14:00.003-06:00

Sometimes getting a perfect effect in your layer styles takes some work and patience. If you get that layer style exactly the way you want it, how do you duplicate that perfection onto another layer?
Well, you don't have to write down all the settings in your Layers Styles Panel then add these effects to your new layer. Here is a quick trick.
Hold down your alt/opt key and drag that layer style icon (fx) to the layer you want to apply that perfect layer style on.
Want to see how it's done? Watch my short video below. :-)
layer_style_tips2

More Free Photoshop Actions!

2010-11-29T14:30:00.000-06:00

An Action is a series of Photoshop commands used to automate a task thus saving you time.
To see the Actions Photoshop has to offer, go to Window – Actions to open the Actions palette.
If you want to try one open a photograph, open the Actions Window then click on "Wood Frame". Photoshop goes through numerous steps to create a neat looking frame around your photo.
These are nice but did you know that there are great Photoshop actions available for Free?
It's a simple procedure to download and load them into Photoshop. To load an Action just go to the fly-out menu and select "Load Action".
You can do some amazing things with Actions.
Here are a couple of trusted sites with Free Photoshop actions.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/photoshop-tools.htm

http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2009/12/200-very-useful-free-photoshop-actions-enhancement-colouring-effects-filters-etc.html

Photoshop - Amazing Sparkle Effects

2010-11-22T13:52:00.002-06:00

It's that time of year when we can start expecting snow. Snow is beautiful by itself, but today I'm going to show you how to make some amazing winter photos sparkle!
Note: This tutorial is best for those familiar with layers and masks.

Open your photograph and duplicate the layer. I called the layer sparkle
Add a layer mask to this new layer.
Select the layer masker then Image>Apply Image - leave the defaults and click OK. The layer mask will have a copy of the image inside it.
Change the Blending Mode of this layer to Screen (top of the layer menu)
Duplicate this new layer
Click the folder icon in the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new group and call it sparkle group
Drop these 2 layers in your group folder
Select either one of the sparkle layers
Filter > Blur > Motion Blur - Angle 45 degrees.
Depending on the resolution of your image adjust the streaks until you get nice long thin lines
Select the other sparkle layer
Filter > Blur > Motion Blur but now select the opposite direction for streaks - Angle -45 degrees
Again, adjust the streaks until you get long thin streaks like you did in the other layer
Now to make the streaks more prominent go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask
Adjust these settings to make the streaks more visible
Select the other sparkle layer and repeat Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask

One of the last steps we need to do now is to remove the streaks from the subject. To do this, we'll add a layer mask to the Sparkle Group folder layer. Do the following:

Select the Group Layer and add a Layer Mask by clicking on the mask icon in the bottom of the layer palette
Select a soft edged brush, set the opacity to 50% and start painting with black on the layer mask to take the streaks off the main subject

This last step is optional. I wanted to add a little more of a dramatic effect to the sparkles we've created so here is what I did.

I selected one of my sparkle layers then Image > Adjustments > Vibrance (versions before CS5 use Hue/Saturation)
I moved the Vibrance of the image way up to make the colors pop
I repeated this step on the other sparkle layer

Keep in mind that this effect also looks great on a romantic beach, wedding photos, etc. to give your photograph a wonderful "dreamy" effect.
Enjoy!

Photoshop - Create ice effects with text

2010-11-15T09:59:00.004-06:00

CREATING

With Photoshop

Want to create some amazing custom text that looks frozen? This is the perfect time of year to start thinking about holiday cards, newsletters and colder weather so here are the steps to create your own amazing frozen text.

Below are the steps for my intermediate users who are comfortable with selecting backgrounds and the using basic Photoshop tools.

I've also included a movie tutorial for those more comfortable watching the entire process at the bottom of this blog.

Start with a new blank canvas and add some large text with a nice bold font that fills about half your canvas area.
Layer > Flatten Image
Filter > Pixelate > Crystallize (try settings between 5-10)
Select the background then Select > Similar (to get all of the background between letters)
Select > Inverse to select just the text
Filter > Noise > Add Noise (I use between 50-70)
Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur (2-4)
Select > All
Image > Adjust > Invert
Image > Rotate > 90 degrees CW
Filter > Stylize > Wind (Blast-direction-Right)
Image > Rotate > 90 degrees CCW
Select background
Select > Similar > delete (background should be deleted to your background color white)
Select > Inverse (selects just the text now)
Image > Adjustment > Color Balance (add blue and cyan as desired)

SHOW ME HOW

Movie tutorial

Photoshop - Amazing effects using Textures on Photographs

2010-11-05T11:29:00.000-05:00

Here is a simple trick to create AMAZING effects on a photo without a lot of steps.
Find or better yet, take a photograph of an interesting texture. It could be gravel, tree bark, wood grain, or anything your imagination comes up with.
Or, here is a free site that contains hundreds of free high resolution textures. http://amazingtextures.com/textures/
This is the texture I decided to use. It has a lot of character!
Open any photograph you want to add a special effect to. I decided this texture might look good on a barn.
When you have your texture and photograph here are the steps you need to follow:
Open your texture, Select > All, Edit > Copy.
Open your photograph.
Edit > Paste
This will paste your texture in a layer above your photograph.
Now we're going to play with something called "Blending Modes". Don't worry if you've never used a Blending mode before. I'll walk you through it.
Make sure your Layers palette is open. If not Window > Layers
Select the top layer (layer with the texture)
Change the blending mode to Overlay.
Instantly you'll see the amazing effects of your texture applied to your photo.
You can even adjust these effects. To get less of a texture change the opacity of the texture layer down below 100%.
What a great way to create "faux" paintings for yourself or friends.
Enjoy!

Create a decorative frame border

2010-11-01T14:19:00.000-05:00

Greetings Fellow Fun Seekers!
Want to add a decorative frame border around your photograph?
Let's see how you can go from thisTo this with just a couple clicks of the mouse.
There is a "Wooden Frame" Action built right into Photoshop. An Action is basically a bunch of recorded steps in Photoshop ready to play in sequence for you. Here is all you need to do.

From the Photoshop Window menu select "Actions"
Click on the Wood Frame Action
Select the Play button at the bottom of the panel
A message will come up telling you that your image needs to be at least 100 pixels wide. Click Continue.

That's it. You have a wonderful frame around your photo like shown above.

Take it to the next level
Want to customize the color of your frame? It involves editing the Action but I know you can do this.
In the Wood Frame Action, click the box next to "Fill". This will STOP the Action at this point so that YOU can choose a color for your frame.

Open an image and select the Wooden Frame Action. Click the Play button again. This time the action will stop allowing you to pick any color you want. Open the "Foreground Color" dialog to select a color. I chose a red hue. Then click "OK".
The action will finish playing with your customized color!How kewl is that?

Take it yet to the next level
You can pick a color that resides inside your photograph for frame. When the stopped action comes up asking for a color selection, move your mouse over your photo. An eyedropper appears and you can click on any color in your photograph to be your frame color. Then click OK.
Talk about a perfect matching frame!
Enjoy!

Great FREE Fonts!

2010-10-26T09:52:00.003-05:00

Using the right font makes all the difference in a document or webpage. Your computer comes with a nice selection but sometimes you want something more exciting or personalized.
Here is a website made just for you. FontSquirrel has over 600 free quality fonts sorted into categories. With the holidays coming, how FUN is that?! Here is one I downloaded below.
http://fontsquirrel.com

ENJOY!

Free Special Effects for your photographs!

2010-10-25T09:25:00.001-05:00

Photoshop can create some amazing special effects on your photographs. However there are some really funky sites that will do the same thing. Today's Cool Site, BeFunky has some basic editing tools, but there are also plenty of funky photo effects that rival the filters in Photoshop.

Just upload an image and click an effect to apply it. If you don't like it, you can undo it and add another effect. Here is a photo that I uploaded and created a cartoon effect on.

The Goodies section also lets you add objects, hats, speech bubbles or other shapes. Photos can be saved or shared online.
I upload a photo of my kitty "Echo".

Here are a few of the free effects that I did with the above photo.

No registration is required and the site is free. They do offer a paid version that removes their logo and provides additional tools but I found that the free version had enough goodies for an afternoon of entertainment.
Enjoy!

www.befunky.com

Managing Facebook posts

2010-10-18T09:27:00.000-05:00

Facebook is the most popular social networking website and has been around since September 2006. Anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail address can become a Facebook user by setting up an account. If you have an account you quickly accumulate friends either by searching for friends or getting friend requests. After some time, all these postings from people you sort of know, or those posting notices that they need a brick for their barn, can become overwhelming and perhaps not what you really want to see.
Here is how to control what you see in Facebook.

Hover over with the mouse of a person or of an Facebook's applications post about Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc.
You'll see a Hide button appear in the upper right corner.
Select either to Hide this persons postings or Hide the Facebook application announcements.

You can always edit your personal Options later to bring either back.

Now when you visit Facebook you're seeing only the posts you want to see from the people you want to keep track of.

Enjoy your new control of your Facebook account!

Want to learn more about Facebook?
Check the video below.

Photoshop - painting a selection

2010-10-12T11:51:00.004-05:00

Sometimes making a selection doesn't get everything you want. Your selection is rarely perfect. Today I'll share a neat trick to make your selections even better.
Select as much of the area in the photo you can with your favorite selection tool. Next, click on the Quick Mask mode button at the bottom of the Tools panel. Instantly your selection is in a normal color and everything else shows in a shade of red.
Now, using white paint you can add to your selection with any sized brush you need. Click on the Quick Mask mode button again to see your new selection.
If you get too much selected go back to the Quick Mask mode and paint away with black paint.
Making a selection just got a lot easier!
Watch my movie of how I selected a straw hat using the Quick Mask mode.
Making a selection with Quick Mask

Find FREE stuff!

2010-10-11T11:31:00.003-05:00

You may already know about Craigslist. You can find free items here by clicking on the free link under the "For Sale" heading.

But, you may not have heard about Freenapkin.

The quickest way to get rid of something may be to give things away. Someone will be happy to take it off your hands.

You’d be surprised what you can get for free. People can find a reason to give away almost anything and all the listings are free.
I would stick to local listings so you can pick up your stuff right away and not have to worry about shipping or driving out of your way.

Who said nothing is free?

Now for my video of the month....FINALLY! (It's been more than a month)
A father and son using just a video camera, iphone for GPS signal and small weather balloon capture amazing video from space!

Print out your Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts

2010-10-04T10:03:00.000-05:00

There's nothing better in Photoshop than to save time using the shortcut keys. You can even create your own shortcut keys if you don't find the default ones handy. (See previous blog)
Learning where the shortcuts for your most commonly used functions can take some time to learn. That's when printing out the shortcuts can come in handy. Here's how to do that.

Select Edit > Keyboard Short-cuts
Select which set of short-cuts you want listed. In the example below I had created my own custom shortcuts by selecting the little "New Set" icon and following the instructions on the bottom of the screen.
Click the Summarize button
Save the .htm file
Open the file in any browser and print your list of shortcuts

Now you'll have a list of shortcuts handy to help you memorize your favorites. This will be a long list but you can highlight the ones that you want to memorize.
Being able to customize and use shortcuts in Photoshop will save you a lot of time. You'll wonder how you ever got along without them!

Free Art creation software - Livebrush

2010-09-27T12:05:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of respect for artists. Art is hard. Really hard. To most people, a blank canvas is pure intimidation. But what if you could create art with a simple gesture?
That’s exactly what this program does. It takes your natural gestures and converts it into graphic art. It’s like having a talented artist living in your mouse. Sure, it might feel like cheating. But it’s fun.
I also don't want to have to take a lot of time to learn a new program. Here is an example of what I was able to do in a matter of a few minutes after downloading the FREE version of Livebrush.
I used 3 different brush styles to create the "art" above. I'm no Picasso, but I see the potential already!
Want to give it a try? Make sure you select the free version at livebrush.com
Want to see it in action first? Check the demo below.

Photoshop - Amazing Effects with Duotone

2010-09-20T15:56:00.000-05:00

This week we're going to take a simple photograph and turn it into a KEWL work of art using duotone.The above photo looks nice. But lets turn it into something special like this!

In my example I threw out almost all of the color information, added a filter and got this amazing photo in just a few clicks of the mouse. Let's see how easy this is.
Open any image and go to Image - Mode - Grayscale. Next go to Image - Mode - Duotone. You'll see a screen like the following.Select Duotone then select two colors to represent your image. You can get amazing results depending on your color choices. Click the colored boxes to change colors and select the curve to change the intensity of your colors. I choice black and cyan in my example.
Don't know which colors to pick? Try the Custom Preset drop-down menu for a huge selection of preset duotones.
After you've gotten the color you want try one of Photoshop's artistic filters. In my example I used Filter - Artistic - Dry brush to get the results shown above.
The next time you want to create a special effect on an otherwise average photograph try duotone. Sometimes less really is MORE!

Create your own nature sound files!

2010-09-15T15:33:00.004-05:00

Sounds from nature are so relaxing. Perhaps it's ocean waves, birds singing or whatever.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could create and customize your own?
Well now you can. Use this free online tool to customize your own relaxing nature sounds.
Nature sounds will let you do this. You can find this at http://naturesoundsfor.me.

There are several nature sounds to pick from. You can combine up to 4 different sounds and adjust the volume for each nature sound as you desire.
Here is an unusual yet relaxing combination that I came up with.
I have "Cat Purr" volume way up with some background water and birds singing.
I adjusted the bird singing to come and go so it wouldn't be constant at the bottom of the "Forest Birds" (shown with segmented green line)
You can then save your file to your computer to take where ever you go to help relax you. You can also choose to save it as a link.
Here is my relaxing version of nature sounds.
http://naturesoundsfor.me/leonasbliss
Enjoy (and relax)

FREE Photoshop for your Smart Phone!

2010-09-13T10:18:00.005-05:00

I like to take photos with my phone. However, these photos usually need a lot of help. My Droid was never meant to be a camera but I don't always have my camera on me.
I was thrilled when I found the Free Photoshop application for my Droid!
The thrill didn't last too long when I found out that I could only do the VERY BASICS of editing.
The Photoshop.com Mobile App (free) is available for both the iPhone and Android phones. It provides basic editing tools for your photos. The app lets you crop, rotate, edit color and and few other basic editing tools are available. Do a search for Photoshop on your phone applications menu and download it.
Being so limited I shouldn't complain. Hey it's free, and of course it has to make me smile because it's Photoshop!
http://mobile.photoshop.com/
Enjoy!

FREE Cleaning Tool for your new computer

2010-09-06T08:46:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is to unbox a new computer. How nice to have a fresh Windows installation and a fast roomy hard drive!

However, now there are more than a dozen shortcuts on the desktop for trial programs and services that you may not have any interest in. These "extras" are sometimes called bloatware or craplets.

PC Decrapifier is a free program removes many of these common trial programs and offers and lets you decide what additional software should be on your computer.

Here's one way to get rid of the commercials on my computer that I didn't ask for. Oh, and of course the best part again is that it's FREE.

Want to read more about it? Here is what PCWorld says about it.

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/download

Now Just For Fun!

At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice!
Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.
Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ' For Marijuana.
Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.
Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is 'To Go'.
Sing Along At The Opera.
Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache.
When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'
When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'

Make it a GREAT week! :-)

Creating awesome Black and White photographs

2010-08-30T10:18:00.001-05:00

Black and white photographs can be stunning and are more popular now than ever.
Photoshop has a couple ways to doing this and I'll show you the right and wrong ways.

The wrong way to make black and white photographs
The first option has been around for years in Photoshop.
To remove color you can go to Image - Adjustment - Desaturate
What you get is a black and white photograph that may or may not look the way you want it to (photo 1).
You have no control of the gray tones in the photo.
Notice how dark the barn is and the sky doesn't stand out like I want it to.

The right way to make black and white photographs
The next time you want to work with black and white do it this way.
Go to Image - Adjustments - Black and White
I was able to fiddle with the intensity of what was previously red and blue in the photo by making the red areas lighter and the blue areas darker! (photo 2)

When you select Black and White you'll get a color slider palette. Here you can adjust the intensity of various parts of the photograph.
Notice how the details of the reds in the barn can now be seen and how increasing the intensity of the blues made the sky stand out. How awesome is that?!

The next time you want to experiment with black and white conversion make sure you select the right tool in Photoshop.

Image - Adjustments - Black and White

Like the old fashioned effect of sepia tone?
Try checking the Tint button in the lower left corner of the Black and White adjustment palette. Here you can even change the color and saturation of your sepia tone effect.

You'll be amazing your friends with your black and white photograph using the right tool in Photoshop.
Enjoy!

OK, now for my video of the month. Enjoy!

Fixing lens distortion in Photoshop

2010-08-23T10:40:00.000-05:00

Images taken with wide-angle cameras tend to have severe distortions which pull points towards the optical center. This causes the visual appearance of an object to vary drastically with its location in the field of view.
Photoshop's lens correction tool can remove this distortion for you. Depending on the camera you used Photoshop can read the exif data (EXIF (Exchange image file format). This is a standard that allows information stored with the digital photograph) and automatically make the corrections for you.
If not, you can select your camera make and lens to remove this distortion.
To find this filter in CS5 go to Filter - Lens Correction. (In previous versions of Photoshop it was hidden under Filter - Distort - Lens Correction) Never have issues with "bent walls" again.
Here is a video of Lens Correction in action!

Using Adjustment Layers in Photoshop

2010-08-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

I like to adjust most of my photographs a little using some of Photoshop's tools. In particular I like to check Levels and often use Contrast.
However, what happens if I've added too much contrast and have saved my file? There's no going back unless I have the original image somewhere to undo what I've done. And, by then I've usually deleted the original file off my camera. DOH!

This is why you want to always use Adjustment Layers to do your editing. Adjustment Layers allow you to go back to your change and tweak your settings or, remove it completely.

Here is one way to start.
Open your Layers palette and click on the black and white Adjustment layer icon. All of the awesome editing tools display in a list. Select the tool you want to use and a new Adjustment layer appears in your layer palette. Make the changes you want and even add another Adjustment layer if desired.
Each new adjustment now displays as a seperate layer in your layer palette.

To make changes to your adjustments just click on the Adjustment layer icon to view your previous change and modify your settings (photo 2).

The best part about using Adjustment layers is that no damage is done to your photo. If you save this file in a native .psd format you can always go back to remove, tweak or add new Adjustment layers without permanent alternations to the original photo.

If you've never used them, Adjustment layers will be your new best friend in Photoshop.
Never damage a pixel again!

Hidden features in Photoshop

2010-08-13T08:32:00.002-05:00

When working with an image in Photoshop, sometimes what is surrounding your photograph can affect what you are seeing. First an foremost, just the clutter alone can be distracting.
Also, what the human eye and brain “perceives” can be effected by the color surrounding your image. If you have a darker color around your main image, your main image will lighten up, and if you have a lighter color around your main image, your image will appear darker.
This is the reason we have the “F” key function. Hitting the "F" key will not only remove all the color but allow you to see your photograph "in a new light" as they say with a light gray or black background. Hit the "F" key again to get all of your toolbars (and clutter) back.
Below is an example starring my kitty Echo.
The next time you're in Photoshop, give it a try!

Black and white vs desaturate

2010-08-09T09:24:00.000-05:00

Black and white photographs can be stunning. There are a couple of ways to work with the Black and White settings in Photoshop.
The first way used to be the only option available when changing a photograph from color to black and white. You can do this by going to Image - Adjustments - Desaturate and the color information is removed like in the second photo displayed here.
This is fast but you have absolutely no control on the overall tones of the now black and white photo.

Here is the best way to make a black and white photo in Photoshop.
Go to Image - Adjustments - Black and White. Here you get slider bars to influence the effect of certain colors in the image. For example, notice how dark the barn is when I let Photoshop change the photo to black and white by using desaturate in the 2nd photo. The barn is too dark and the sky doesn't pop like it does in the color photograph.
In the third photo you can see how I adjusted the reds and blues so that the barn is much lighter and the previous blue areas of the sky become more prominent. With these slides I can bring focus to areas of the photograph that I want the focus to be on! This is great for flowers, sky, and in this case the barn.

There are also tools here if I want to create a neat sepia tone effect by selecting the Tint button and adjusting the hue and saturation of the tint. This can be really nice for the old time photo effects.
Now you can make stunning black and white photography using the KEWL Black and White tool in Photoshop too!

Photoshop - Dry Brush Filter

2010-08-06T09:33:00.002-05:00

I wouldn't be able to draw even a stick figure if I had to. However, Photoshop has some filters that can create AMAZING faux painting effects.
Today we'll take a look at my favorite filter to create amazing "paintings" from photographs!
Enjoy!

Formatting Text in Photoshop

2010-08-02T14:05:00.000-05:00

You might need to add an entire paragraph of text in your Photoshop document. However, what about editing the line and word spacing of the paragraph like you can in a text editor?
Here is all you need to do.
Select your text then open the character palette (File menu - Window - Character). You'll see numerous text formatting tools available including leading and tracking. You can either type in a number into these fields or, use the little slider arrows to watch your spacing change as you move the arrows.
Other features on the bottom of the palette include faux Bold (very helpful when Bold is not an option for your font) subscripts, underline and superscripts.

Photoshop will never be an efficient text editor but when you need to make adjustments it can be done with the Character palette.

Enjoy hiking? Perhaps not like this video of the month.

Great digital cameras for under $200

2010-07-26T10:42:00.000-05:00

I have some great professional cameras that I use for business. However, there are a lot of times that I don't want to take any of those cameras with me.
For one thing, they are large, expensive and can be overkill for doing just simple everyday shots. When I'm traveling, I like a camera that will slip into a pocket but still do a decent job of taking pictures. The problem is, what camera should I get for every day use like this?
PC Magazine has done the work for me. Take a look at 8 nice digital cameras that they have reviewed that fits this need.
PCMag.com - 8 great Digital Cameras under $200

FREE Photoshop Fire brushes

2010-07-19T17:37:00.005-05:00

What's more fun that new Photoshop brushes?
You'll be able to create amazing special effects with these FREE fire brushes.
There are several sets to select from.
http://www.designzzz.com/amazing-photoshop-fire-brush-packs/
Want even more FREE Photoshop brushes?
Check out my previous blogs for these goodies along with instructions on how to load these brushes into Photoshop.

http://leonaruth.blogspot.com/2009/07/free-photoshop-brushes.html
and
http://leonaruth.blogspot.com/2008/02/photoshop-brushes-every-artist-needs.html

Enjoy!

Fun local events

2010-07-12T09:05:00.001-05:00

Looking for something new to do? Sometimes the same old stuff gets boring.
Here is a great local event directory that will show you what's happening in your area.
www.when.com

Photoshop - Great picture in picture effect

2010-07-05T13:59:00.009-05:00

How can you make a simple photograph one to remember?
Let's take a look at how with Photoshop, you can create a really wonderful yet easy special effect like the example shown here.

Find a nice photograph that uses the rule of thirds. You'll want extra room on the edge of the photograph to place your main subject. In this example we have extra room on the right side of the photo.

Duplicate your layer. On this new layer you'll want to desaturate the color. The old way of doing this in Photoshop was Image - Adjustments - Desaturate. I never use this anymore now that Photoshop has the adjustable Black & White feature. It's found in the same area: Image - Adjustments - Black & White.
This is SO much better than just letting Photoshop remove color and leaving you with a Black and White photo. With the Black and White tool you can adjust how much contrast you want in say, the blue areas. In using Image - Adjustments - Black & White, I was able to make the ocean stand out in the Black and White layer by adjusting the previous blue areas and have complete control on how the Black and White layer looked.

Next, go back to the color layer and make a selection around the subject, copy it and paste it into a new layer.
With the subject on the new top layer go to Layer - Layer Style - Stroke. In this example I changed the stroke color to white and added some width to the border around the photograph. While I had the Layer Style window open, I also added a drop shadow for a more dramatic effect. To give the photo more interest I then flipped the subject horizontally. To do this go to Edit - Transform - Flip Horizontally.

The last touch to my photograph was to rotate the subject layer just a little. To do this I made sure I had the subject layer selected and went to Edit - Transform - Rotate.

Here is what my finished Photoshop file looks like. I have my original layer, the copied layer that I removed color from, and my subject layer that I added a Layer Style of Stroke and Drop Shadow too.

What a great gift for special photographs of family and friends. They'll all be amazed at the professional and stunning results that you've created.
Enjoy!

And now for my video of the month.
Have you ever built anything with Legos? Check out this Lego creation.

And I thought my Lego house was neat.

Blast from the Past

2010-06-28T09:09:00.000-05:00

Remember Polaroids? I sure do. There was nothing more exciting than waving a wet photograph in the air waiting for a picture to magically appear.
Unfortunately Polaroid doesn't make this film any more. However, you can still get the same look of these retro photographs. Rollip is a free online tool that will give you this nostalgic effect.
There's are several styles to pick from too! I was able to create a kewl effect and suddenly it was 1968 again! The best part (besides being FREE) I didn't have to worry about that sticky messy photo gluey stuff.

http://www.rollip.com/
Enjoy!

Amazing Jigsaw Puzzle Affect

2010-06-21T14:43:00.006-05:00

Want to impress you friends with an amazing jigsaw puzzle affect on a favorite photo? Here is how you can do it.

Go to Adobe’s site to download their jigsaw action.
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1044043
This is an awesome Action, but it doesn’t pull out the pieces as shown in our example.

Running the Action

Download the puzzle Action.
Load the Action via the Action palette – click the little triangle on the upper right corner of the Action palette and select "Load Action".
You'll see your new puzzle Actions available
Select the option of 6 or 20 piece puzzle
The Action will stop to allow you to adjust the bevel of the pieces and shadow. Make these adjustments and click continue to resume the Action.

The puzzle will be complete but the pieces will all be in place. If you like this look you can stop here.
If you’d like to pull individual pieces out like in our example follow these steps:

Moving the Pieces

Change your background color to white
Increase the size of your canvas (better to increase too much than not enough. You can crop later)
Open your layers palette
All the puzzle pieces will be in a folder called "Puzzle Set"
Each puzzle piece will be on its own separate layer
Select the puzzle piece you want to move and drag it outside the Puzzle Set folder (see below with puzzle piece A2)
Unlock this layer by selecting your puzzle layer and clicking the lock in the bottom of the layers palette (see below)
You can now move your puzzle piece to anywhere you wish
I used the move then Rotate Tool (Edit - Transform - Rotate)
Do this for each puzzle piece you want to move

Enjoy!

The very basics of great photographs

2010-06-14T13:32:00.004-05:00

It's impossible to teach good photography or Photoshop in one simple lesson. However, I can run through the very basics of what's needed for a great photograph.

Shoot as high resolution as you can with your camera and get as high resolution camera as you can afford.
Get the lighting and exposure as close to perfect as you can, including white balance. If the lighting is poor, open blinds or turn on lights. Outside, move the subject if possible to a well lit area with indirect light (early and late day light is the BEST), use the flash and know the range of the flash.
Lock the focus - Hold your shutter button half way down, check your frame and finish pressing the shutter button.
Place your subject off-center or try a different angle other than eye level.
Always shoot in RAW and adjust your images as close as you can prior to processing to PSD.
Working file is PSD, all changes are done on layers, not on the image itself. Use adjustment layers not to damage original pixels.
From the PSD you save the sizes and formats you need but always keep a PSD backup file. Opening and resaving a jpg file degrades upon each save.

Example:
In the example below, natural light gives interesting soft shadows without the harsh shadows that direct sunlight would cause.
Instead of standing and taking the picture down at the subject, in this case, getting down to kitties level makes for a much more interesting photograph.

Save money on airline tickets

2010-06-07T11:19:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you're familiar with sites like Priceline and Orbitz to get discounted airline tickets. Here is a neat site that lets you search several of these sites at once. It's called Yapta.
With Yapta, you search for tickets as usual. However, it can pull prices from different places. This includes sites like Orbitz, Expedia and Priceline.

There are also extensive filter controls. You can easily modify settings to get desired ticket prices. Yapta will even e-mail you when prices drop. What a great way to save time and money!
How handy is that?

Better way to create a new layer in Photoshop

2010-05-31T14:53:00.000-05:00

You've created numerous new layers in Photoshop by clicking the New Layer Icon in the bottom of the layer palette. Now, let me show you the "make better" key trick.
Hold down the alt/opt key on your keyboard when selecting the New Layer Icon. Now you can quickly name your layer, set the opacity along with other options if desired.
This is much faster than going back later and properly naming your newly created layer. It also helps prevent you from forgetting to name your layer and ending up with generic Layer 1, Layer 2, etc. which can cause you a great deal of grief later when trying to manage your Photoshop file.
Enjoy the alt/option "make better" key when creating new layers!

A better and Free screenshot program

2010-05-24T10:02:00.001-05:00

In Windows, you can take a shot of your entire screen. Just hit the Print Screen button. But it's awkward and doesn't give you any control and what you capture.

That’s where Greenshot comes in. It puts a variety of screenshot tools at your fingertips and runs in the background. It adds keyboard shortcuts for different screenshot types like grabbing only the open window. Or you can click and drag to capture a region. You can save the shot or modify it with the built-in image editor. And of course the best part is that it's free.

http://greenshot.sourceforge.net/

Now for my YouTube video pick. It's been around but didn't want you to miss it.

Have you ever been to a water theme park? It can be a lot of fun.
This kitty has fun and creates his own water theme park. Enjoy!

This explains their high water bill too.