There is nothing better than grunging up your photos and layouts with some good grunge distressing brushes. Experiment with various blend modes such as Color Burn, Linear Burn and Linear Light to really make those distressing marks look real. These brushes are large in size and high quality. Included are the .png files and (.abr) Photoshop Brushes.
Check out the Grungy Distressing Brushes in store at Digital Scrapbook Place.
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Anyone who joins the online digiscrapping communities will notice the popularity of blinking avatars and 'blinkies'. This tutorial teaches you how to easily create your very own blinking avatars and blinkies in Photoshop CS-CS5.
There are a few more steps to create a blinkie in older versions of Photoshop CS than in Photoshop Elements but once you know how you will be creating dozens of blinking avatars and blinkies! The blinkie size I have used in this instance is 125×60 pixels, another common blinkie size is 150×50 pixels. The avatar size limit on on most scrapping forums is 125x125pixels so this is a good size to create your avatar's at.
Firstly you need to create your design, and this needs to be a layered image, as showing and hiding the layers enables you to create each frame of the blinkie.
For the purpose of this tutorial I will be using the top three layers as 'blinking' layers for the blinkie. You can use any combination of layers you wish to create a frame for your blinkie. In this instance I will keep it simple and only 'blink' the top three layers.
Once you have all your layers ready to go you then need to begin the animation process. To do this, go to the file menu and choose Edit in ImageReady.
Note: This step is unnecessary in Photoshop CS3+ as animations are now done within Photoshop itself. Simply click on the window menu and click on Animation to open the Animation window while still in Photoshop.
Image Ready will open up (this can sometimes take some time to load) with your image in it, and no longer in Photoshop. If you need to go back and fix something you can just choose Edit in Photoshop from the file menu of Image Ready. Be warned however if you do this you should do so before you begin the animation process as it can play havoc with your frames. If you need to do it after you have started adding new frames, first delete the extra frames and then do your editing in Photoshop before coming back to Image Ready.
Next you need to open the Animation window, in image ready or in Photoshop CS3+.
Go to the Window menu and ensure that the Animation option is checked. This will ensure you have the animation window open.
To create each frame we need to turn on the layers we want visible and off the layers we don't. You can do this by clicking on the eye next to each layer. If there is no eye next to the layer, it means the layer's visibility has been turned off. In the above sample we have turned off the 'Love' and 'CD' Layers which will be for the first frame of our blinkie. For this blinkie the first layer only has the 'I' layer visible.
Here we have the Animation window visible. This is where we create each frame of the animation. Here we need to ensure it is set to forever. This allows the blinkie to continue blinking. If it is set to once, it will only go through the frames once and then stop.
The frame delay is the length of time in seconds the frame will appear. You can set different time values for each frame if you wish. For instance if something takes a little longer to read you can make it a longer frame delay. If it is just an outside border which flickers, you can set it to a short delay so that it blinks quickly. For the purpose of this tutorial we will set all the frame delay's at 0.5 seconds.
Once the first frame is set, following new frames are defaulted at the same value, but can be changed if you wish.
We already had the first frame ready to go, and just had to adjust the frame delay. Now we are ready to create the second frame. First we need to click on the New Frame Icon circled above.
Next we need to make the layers visible that we want to appear in the second frame of the blinkie. Above shows the second layer we want visible.
Here is the third frame we wish to have for the blinkie, showing the layers which are visible for this frame. We have now finished creating the frames for the blinkie and it is now ready to be saved into gif format.
Note: In CS3+ this step is now done through Save For Web & Devices (file menu). The settings are on the right hand side of the window. If you wish to view the quality settings, click on the two up tab. This allows you to view the Original file on the left, and your adjusted settings on the right. You can use the play button at the bottom right of the window to view your animation before saving. Once you are happy with your settings click on save and save to your computer.
Photoshop CS3+ Save For Web & Devices
Back to prior photoshop versions…
Next we need to make sure that gif is selected in the optimize palette. If you need to compress the image a little further and reduce the file size you can try adjusting the number of colours, however this can reduce the viewing quality of the image. If file size is not an issue you will not need to adjust any of the other settings.
For the purpose of this tutorial I have left all the settings at their defaults.
Now it is time to save our image! Go to the file menu and choose Save Optimized As. Choose an easy to find spot on your hard drive to save your blinkie and you are done!
This article is © Robyn Gough (clikchic) 2006 All Rights Reserved Not to be reproduced in any way without written permission
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Drop shadows can have a dramatic affect on your layouts and can provide a variety of different effects and looks. Adjusting a drop shadow can really make your layout pop, or can spoil it. The trick is creating the right type of drop shadow for the effect you are trying to create.
Below is a photo with six different drop shadows to illustrate the different effects a drop shadow can give.
The first image has a subtle drop shadow, a short distance from the image, with the shadow being heavier on two sides of the photo, illustrating that the light source is coming from the top left. The small size of the shadow also suggests that the photo is likely to be directly on top of the background paper as it might be on a traditional paper layout.
The second photo has a heavier and larger drop shadow again heavier on two sides of the photo indicating that the light source is coming from the top left. The increased size and softness to the drop shadow makes the photo appear that it might be further away from the background paper. Such a shadow might also be used for objects such as page pebbles, or other embellishments which would appear to be thicker in real life than a photo. In this instance, used on a photo which is less than a millimetre thick, it makes the photo appear to float on the page.
The third photo has a very large drop shadow and is much softer looking than the previous two. The shadow has dispersed just as shadows do in real life when an object is a distance from something. The closer the object is to where the shadow is being cast, the darker, smaller and sharper the shadow will become. This shadow makes the photo appear as if it is floating some distance above the page and does not lend itself towards a realistic looking paper style layout as much as the first shadow does.
The fourth photo has a small brown drop shadow with the colour altered from black to dark brown. The shadow is set at zero distance giving an even size around the photo and indicating that the light source might be directly above the photo. This form of drop shadow gives a lovely soft look and is useful for creating a realistic and soft looking shadow around the photo. This effect is particularly useful for freestyle layouts and a variety of other effects and looks.
The fifth photo has a larger, softer drop shadow, at zero distance with the colour altered from black to dark brown. The shadow has also had noise added to give a less even look. The size of the drop shadow does not lend itself to a realistic photo on top of paper look, however it does almost give the appearance that the photo is set behind the paper instead of on top of it. To enhance this effect you may wish to reduce the opacity of the shadow and include an inner shadow on the photo itself. It is another style of drop shadow which may be useful for freestyle layouts.
The sixth photo does not look at all like it has a drop shadow but like it has a frame around it or that the paper may have been embossed. This look was achieved by using zero distance, changing the colour to dark brown and experimenting with the contour of the drop shadow. Once again, not a very realistic looking drop shadow, but perhaps an interesting effect to experiment with!
Knowing how to make the most of your drop shadows is a very useful tool to have under your belt and it can be fun to experiment with them. Why not give it a go in your next layout?
© Robyn Gough 2006 All Rights Reserved
Not to be reproduced without express written permission.
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You can produce some interesting selective blur effects with the Lens Blur filter in Photoshop. It is a technique originally created with a specialized camera and sometimes used in advertising images. Following is a quick tutorial on how to create a similar Lens Blur effect in Photoshop. Photoshop gives us a lot more control after the image is taken and how the blur is applied. It is a very effective technique great for emphasising a focal point or drawing the eye to a specific area of your photo.
First, create a selection on you photograph with the Elliptical Marquee tool. (situated on the rectangular marquee button).
Now feather the selection using Feather Selection in the Select – Modify – Feather Selection.
Type in 80 as a feathering range. (can vary depending on photo size)
Click on ok. Your selection may not change much on the screen but it will now be a feathered selection.
Click on Filter – Blur – Lens Blur. This will bring up a window for adjusting your lens blur settings.
Within this window you can adjust your settings. Select invert so that the outside of your subject is blurred. Below are the settings I used, you can adjust yours and experiment with your own settings to get an effect you are happy with.
And here is the final image. I love this effect and I am sure you will find many uses for it as well.
All rights reserved
© Robyn Gough 2009
Do not reproduce without express written permission
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I haven’t done a set of actions for a while so I thought I would do a new set, the inspiration hit in the middle of the night, and luckily I didn’t forget! Check out this set of photoshop actions now available in the DSP store to give your photos a touch of nostalgia.
These three photoshop actions will give your photos a nostalgic look and make them really stand out on your beautiful scrapbook layouts. Create three distinct effects with the Yellowed, Blued and Faded Soft Pastel Actions. Nothing makes your layouts stand out more than a really striking photo and with these actions your layouts will be sure to be admired.
Yellowed – Give your photos that aged yellow look you see on so many old photos that have been sitting in a photo album for years.
Blued – Many polaroid photos take on a blue and blurry effect after the passage of time, turn your photos into aged Polaroids with this action.
Soft Pastel – Use the Soft Pastel action for an aged, desaturated, faded and slightly altered color effect. Perfect to add a romantic aged look to your photos.
Run the actions more than once or combine them to enhance the effects even further.
Note: These actions work best on photos of at least 1500 pixels or more. These actions (.atn) have been tested in Photoshop Elements 7 & 8, Photoshop CS, CS2, CS3, CS4 & CS5. Instructions on how to load and run the actions are included.
Don’t miss the other Foto Action Pack’s available for more fabulous photo effects. Kit Includes:
~1 Yellowed Photo Action
~1 Blued Photo Action
~1 Fade Soft Pastel Photo Action
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Great photo effects to quickly and easily give your photos a professional look. Great for heritage layouts!
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