Robyn Gough Designs » Tutorials

Editing Photos in Adobe Camera Raw

clikchic — Fri, 11 May 2012 23:00:00 +0000

Forget about Lightroom, if you have Photoshop CS3+ you can use Adobe Camera Raw that comes with Photoshop to edit your photos. It has all the same features as Lightroom, but many people don’t know it comes FREE with Adobe Photoshop.

Adobe Camera Raw is complete non destructive photo editing software which comes with Adobe Photoshop. Learn how to make the most of your photos by editing them to really make them shine. Learn how to prepare your images for your albums and layouts like a pro.

Editing Photos in Adobe Camera Raw is a four week class which teaches you how to make the most of your photos by learning how to make exposure corrections and adjustments, boost contrast and colour, sharpen your photos and reduce noise. Find out how to do creative colour adjustments to give your images exciting creative looks and how to make those looks easy to accomplish again and again. Learn how working in Adobe Camera Raw enables you to make all these improvements to your images in an entirely non destructive way and will give you editing skills that enable you to enhance your photography and develop your own style.

Prerequisites: DSU110 or equivalent Photoshop experience. This is an intermediate level class. You must have Adobe Photoshop (version CS3 or higher) installed on your computer. View syllabus.

Click here to purchase the class in store at DSP!

I also run classes on Taking Better Snapshots, Delving into Exposure and Intro to Digital Scrapbooking with Photoshop. Check out Digital Scrapbook Place’s Scrapbooking University for more Digital Scrapbooking Classes.

Delving Into Exposure Photography Class

clikchic — Wed, 09 May 2012 23:00:01 +0000

Ever wanted to learn more about exposure and how to use your camera in Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual modes? This is the class for you!

Gain better control and creativity over your photography by learning the in depth essentials about shutter speed, aperture and ISO the three factors that affect your exposures. Learn how to discern well exposed images from bad, and how to make the most out of your camera to enable you to create truly beautiful images. Develop your eye for exposure and learn how to see your subject how your camera does.

Cost: $30 for 4 weekly sessions. Registering the 1st-5th for the current term incurs a $10 late fee. Classes are run monthly, so why not sign up now for next month?

Click here to find out more!

I also run classes on Digital Scrapbooking in Photoshop, Taking Better Snapshots, and Editing Photos in Adobe Camera Raw (comes with Photoshop). Check out Digital Scrapbook Place’s Scrapbooking University for more Digital Scrapbooking Classes.

Learn to Digital Scrapbook Class

clikchic — Mon, 07 May 2012 01:20:56 +0000

Have you wanted to learn how to digital scrapbook in Photoshop? Then this class is just for you!

I have revamped and rewritten this class for those of you who want to learn how to digital scrapbook and the class is running on a monthly basis at Digital Scrapbook Place. Click Here to find out more!

This 4 week class exclusively for Digital Scrapbooking in Photoshop teaches you step by step how to create 4 different layouts, starting with using a plopper, creating a paper style layout, creating a graphic style layout and creating a layout using a quick click or layered template.

The class includes in depth instructions on how to use each tool, filter and layer style used to create basic layouts. You will also create basic elements, manoeuvre text, learn basic photo edits, as well as saving for printing and for sharing on the web. Give yourself a head start in creating layouts with Adobe Photoshop. This class was written in Photoshop CS5 but the class can be used with versions of Photoshop CS2 and newer.
Interested in More Classes?

I also run classes on Taking Better Snapshots, Delving into Exposure and Editing Photos in Adobe Camera Raw (comes with Photoshop). Check out Digital Scrapbook Place’s Scrapbooking University for more Digital Scrapbooking Classes.

Intro To Digital Scrapbooking With Photoshop Class

clikchic — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 05:20:43 +0000

Have you wanted to learn how to digital scrapbook in Photoshop? Then this class is just for you!

I have just revamped and rewritten this class for those of you who want to learn how to digital scrapbook and the class will be starting on a monthly basis from April 1st at Digital Scrapbook Place. Click Here to find out more!

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NEW Class! Editing Photos in Adobe Camera Raw

clikchic — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:42:14 +0000

Prerequisites: DSU110 or equivalent Photoshop experience. This is an intermediate level class. You must have Adobe Photoshop (version CS3 or higher) installed on your computer. View syllabus.

Click here to purchase the class in store at DSP!

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Zipping And Unzipping Zip Files

clikchic — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:32:48 +0000

One of the most fundamental aspects of digital scrapbooking is being able to unzip the files you download. Read on to find out how to zip and unzip zip files.

Creating and Extracting Zip Files In digital scrapbooking there are many occasions where you might have to deal with creating and extracting (opening) zip files. Most digital scrapbook kits you download, whether you buy them or whether they are freebies come in zipped files. Zip files are normally a way of compressing files to keep down the size of them as well as keeping them together in a single file rather than several separate ones.

With graphic or image files, zips do not normally reduce the file size much, if at all, however they are a very good way of keeping a collection of files together to enable easier downloading and uploading on the web. Windows provides it’s own zipping facilities, but if you do not have Windows there are several zipping programs out there which you may be able to use instead. For the purpose of this tutorial, since most people tend to use Windows we will explain how to zip and extract files with Windows Explorer. Extracting Zip Files Firstly open Windows Explorer Start> All Programs> Windows Explorer Locate the zip file you wish to extract the files from and right click on the file. From the menu that is displayed, choose Extract All.

Tip

Double clicking on a zip file will show you what is inside the zip file but will not extract it’s contents.

The Windows extraction wizard will open. Click on Next to continue and you will come to the window below.

Here you can select a destination for the files to be extracted to. You can click browse to find a folder on your hard drive, or type the path of where you want the files to be extracted to. The default is a folder named the same as your zip file, usually in the folder the zip is contained in. If you are happy to have your files extracted to the default directory and folder, click on next to continue.

You zip file will begin to extract and display a progress bar as below.

This completes the extraction of your files, check the box next to ‘Show extracted files’ if you wish to have a window open showing the extracted files.

If you selected the ‘Show Extracted Files’ checkbox. A window explorer window will open at the location of your extracted files.

Creating a Zipped File

Firstly open Windows Explorer Start> All Programs> Windows Explorer Add all the files you wish to zip into a folder. Select the items that you wish to add to a zip by ctrl clicking to select each file individually or click on the top of a list of files, hold down the shift key and click on the bottom file in a list of files.

Once your files are selected, right click on one of the files and choose, Send To> Compressed (Zipped) Folder

Your zipped file will appear among the files you zipped. Your zipped files are now ready to upload to the web, send to someone else or do what you will with!

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Online Photography Classes

clikchic — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:17:53 +0000

Have you ever wanted to improve your photography? Having a photo that pops can really make your digital and paper scrapbooking layouts shine. I am now running two monthly photography classes at Digital Scrapbook Place, ideal for improving your images.

First we have DSU151 – Taking Better Snapshots

DSU151 – Taking Better Snap Shots

Take your snapshots to the next level in this 4-week class. Topics and assignments will focus on avoiding common snapshot pitfalls, and learning techniques that will make your snapshots an even more meaningful centre of your scrapbook pages.

Prerequisites: This is a beginner-level class. Students must have a digital camera, or 35mm camera and scanner for this class.

Cost: $30 for 4 weekly sessions. Registering the 1st-5th for the current term incurs a $10 late fee.

Class starts again 1st of next month. It is not too late to sign up! Click here to find out more.

For those of you who want something a little more advanced, DSU152 – Delving Into Exposure will be perfect for you!

DSU152 – Delving Into Exposure

Ever wanted to learn more about exposure and how to use your camera in Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual modes? This is the class for you!

Prerequisites: This is an intermediate-level class. Students must have a digital SLR, or 35mm SLR and scanner for this class.

Cost: $30 for 4 weekly sessions. Registering the 1st-5th for the current term incurs a $10 late fee.

Class starts again on the 1st. It is not too late to sign up! Click here to find out more!

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Saving an Image for Web Viewing in Photoshop & Photoshop Elements

clikchic — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:50:20 +0000

For those of you new to digital scrapbooking communities, galleries and social media sites, you may never have had the need to save images for viewing on the web before. Read on to find out how to save your images for web use to enable fast viewing and to be able to upload to online galleries. Images viewed via the web do not need to be the same resolution as images saved for printing, as the maximum viewing resolution on a monitor is 72dpi. Images should also be compressed to allow for quick displaying of images when viewed via the internet. The image should also be smaller in size than that to be printed out, as viewing size on a monitor is much smaller than that being printed out.

This tutorial explains how to save images for sharing on the web or in online galleries.

When your digital scrapbook layout is complete, the first step is to flatten your layers. Doing this prevents your layer styles from needing to be rescaled when your image sizes is reduced, which can happen on occasion, particularly in Photoshop Elements.

To flatten your layers, go to the layers palette and click on the more button in PSE or in Photoshop, the small button with a triangle pointing to the right of your screen.

From the menu which appears select flatten image.

This will flatten all the layers in your layout to a single layer.

After you have done this it is time to resize your image. In the Digital Scrapbook Place gallery, the maximum size you can upload to our gallery is 125kb. In your image menu, select Resize> Image Size. (or in Photoshop just select Image Size)

In the window that appears, you can select the size you wish to make your image. (600×600 pixels is a fairly standard gallery size)

Firstly ensure that Resample Image is checked so that you are able to access the pixel dimensions portion of the window. (constrain proportions should also be checked) In the Width and height the maximum amount of pixels should be 600. You may make it smaller if you wish however 500-600pixels is a good viewing size for the web. For a square image, you can resize it too 600×600 pixels, and for rectangular images, the maximum Width or Height is 600pixels. Just change the largest Dimension to 600 and providing Constrain Proportions is checked, the other dimension will change automatically. Once you have changed the amount of pixels to 600 or less, click on ok. This reduces the viewing size to a suitable size for viewing on the web.

Next we need to save our image for the web. This allows us to reduce file size as much as possible without reducing viewing quality. (do not use this method for layouts you wish to print)

Go to your file menu and choose Save for Web. (or Save for Web and Devices in newer versions of Photoshop)

A new window will appear with two versions of your image. (in Photoshop you may need to click on the 2 Up tab) On the left is your original image and on the right is the sample of the image as you adjust its compression settings.

In the Preset box, ensure that you have JPEG selected in the box for file types. To the right of this box is a Quality box. This is where you adjust your compression level. Adjusting the level in the Quality box directly effects the file size shown under your sample image. The aim is to get the maximum viewing quality possible, with minimum file size. Play with the levels in the Quality box and see how it affects your sample image in comparison to your original image. Brightly coloured or high contrast images tend to be larger file sizes than lower contrast images.

To be able to upload your image to the Digital Scrapbook Place gallery, your image file size must be less than 125k. Check the file size under JPEG shown as above below the sample image. Generally speaking you should be able to keep your images under 100k for most layouts. If you need to zoom in to get a better view of the effect of the compression, you can click on the magnifying glass at the top left and click on your image to zoom in. (hold down the alt key and click to zoom back out). You can also optimise for File Size and choose the Maximum File size of your image.

Once you are happy with your adjustments, click on the Ok button.

Be sure not to overwrite your high resolution images by saving as the same name. You might like to put -web or -lowres at the end of your file name to indicate that the image is a low resolution image for web/email viewing.

Once you have named your file and chosen an easy to remember place on your hard drive to save it, click on Save, to save your new, low resolution version of your image.

Tip: When going back to your image in PS or PSE, remember not to re-save your original as your full printing size will be lost. You may wish to undo your sizing and layer changes before saving again, or in Photoshop you can click on Revert in the File menu to revert to the last saved version.

Happy Gallery posting!

Not to be reproduced without express written permission.

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Realistic Paper Tearing in Photoshop

clikchic — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:49:52 +0000

Have you ever wondered how to tear digital paper and make it look real? Learn how to do realistic paper tearing in photoshop.

Realistic Paper tearing in digital scrapbooking is something that can be done in many different ways, here my version of digital paper tearing. This tutorial is done in Photoshop CS, however the basic principles will apply in other versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. You may also be able to apply the principles to other software packages. Select the layer you wish to apply the torn edges to by clicking on it in the layers palette. Then click on the ‘Add Layer Mask’ button at the bottom of the window (second from the left) to create a layer mask. Creating a layer mask allows you to make changes that can be easily removed from the layer at any time. To make changes to the layer mask, click on the square showing to the right of your layer thumbnail. This is your layer mask thumbnail.

Using black on your layer mask will erase from the layer much like the rubber tool and using white will bring it back. This makes it is easy to correct any over brushing by using white.

Select your brush tool from your tools menu on the left hand side.

I like to use the Rough Round Bristle for creating my torn edges but it is worth experimenting with different brushes to see which you prefer for the effect you are after. Adjust the brush size according to your layout and the size needed for the desired effect. For this layout I set mine at about 150px. Make sure you have selected black from your colour palette and begin brushing the edges of your paper, photo or matt. Ensure that the brush opacity is set at 100%.

With this particular brush it is usually necessary to go over any dark pixels that have not been properly erased to ensure you have a clean torn edge. Once you have finished creating your edge with the black brush select the layer in your layers palette below the one you are working on and then create a new layer. This will place a new layer underneath the layer you are creating the torn edge on.

To do this click on the little arrow in a circle on the top left of your layers window and select new layer.

I like to once again use the Rough Round Bristle for the under portion of the torn edge. Once again you might like to experiment with different brushes to get different effects. This particular brush gives a nice textured effect to this portion of the torn edge. Select an appropriate colour to match your paper or photo. In the case of photos I like to use white as photos are printed on white paper and give a white torn edge. For coloured paper I would use a slightly lighter shade of the same colour. Choose a brush size for your desired effect. I used approx 150 once again.

Begin painting the torn portion of the paper on the layer beneath your photo or paper by dragging your brush along the middle of the edge of your torn paper. You may wish to tidy up the edges with your rubber tool and by selecting the same brush. Once you have completed the edge on your photo or paper you may wish to apply a drop shadow to this layer.

To apply a drop shadow select Layer, Layer Style and then Drop Shadow from your menu.

Adjust the settings to suit your layout. Different colours will require different shadow strengths and the further the paper away from the layers below the softer and larger the shadow will be. The closer it is the darker and smaller the shadow will be. For the sake of realism in a paper style layout I prefer to keep my shadows quite small and subtle. Fiddle with the Opacity, Distance, Spread and Size settings to achieve your desired effect.

You may wish to apply further effects on the torn edge portion of the paper, in this case the white portion or the layer beneath your paper or photo. You may wish to apply textures similar to that of the above layer, or a texture to simulate torn paper. Some people like to add noise. Personally I do not think this technique requires any further textures or effects but this will differ according to taste and the style of your papers and layouts. I also like to slightly lower the fill opacity of the white torn edge. Again this is a matter of taste and may not suit your paper or layout. You may prefer to use the rubber tool for this purpose with a lowered opacity to brush over the edges to simulate the effect of the thinned edge of torn paper.

There are many different methods of creating a torn paper edge, and this is the one I like to use for my layouts and kits.

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Creating a Blinkie in Photoshop CS-CS5

clikchic — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 09:50:09 +0000

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 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!