Tutorials for Digital Scrapbooking, Art and More.

Automatic cropping and rotating photos

2012-02-22T17:56:00.000-08:00

Summary: Whether you're restoring old photos or adding them to your digital scrapbooking designs, let Photoshop's Crop and Straighten Photos command speed up your scanning workflow!
Wow was I happy when I read this. I admit to not fully exploring photoshop's potential - other tasks often get in the way. I can't believe I missed this one though. I have spend days scanning old photos from my mother and grandmother and often find it much easier to scan a whole page. Sometimes the pictures are stuck down and you don't want to damage them. That in itself is time consuming. Now I know that I can use photoshop to intuitively crop each to an individual file and straighten them. It is a simple process that speeds it up dramatically and works fairly well. You could use this for other tasks as well.

Take a look at the full tutorial here for full info and screenshots or just take a look under file/automate/crop and rotate photos.

Photoshop Elements Color Picker

2012-02-07T19:07:00.000-08:00

For Photoshop Elements absolute beginners.

Working with Layer Styles – understanding Drop Shadows

2012-02-07T18:57:00.000-08:00

Working with Layer Styles – understanding Drop Shadows

Adobe Photoshop includes Layer Styles, a number of automated effects that you can
apply to layers, including drop shadows, glows, beveling, and embossing, as well as a color fill effect.
Layer styles allow you to edit applied effects dynamically without having to create a smart object version of the image layer first. This means that you can apply editable effects to a selected image, shape, or type layer without permanently altering any pixels.
This is a great beginners tutorial that explains drop shadows. You can read the full tutorial here.

David Hockney's Fresh Flowers, An iPad Exhibition At The ROM

2012-01-30T03:40:00.000-08:00

I was in Toronto just before christmas and stumbled on an interesting exhibition in the ROM [Royal Ontario Museum] David Hockney an english artist exhibited his drawing on iphones and ipads. Not only were they beautiful drawings but it raised an interesting new way of looking at art. How was he to exhibit them ? The most interesting was the question - if he drew on ipad and then sent to a friend was what he sent a copy or an original work of art - after all it is exactly the same as the original. Those of you of an artistic bent may enjoy the thought diversion and an exploration of David's work. You can find his official website here.

DRAWING A PERFECT CIRCLE - for Photoshop beginners

2012-01-25T03:06:00.000-08:00

New to Photoshop ? I hope to bring you some beginner tutorials. I taught myself and often found the simplist things wasted heaps of my time. So let's start with drawing a perfect circle or other shape.
Take a look at the toolbox [ I am using CS3 so your version may be slightly different.]
Scroll down until you see the square and you can either right click or drag to the right on it to open the box up.

You can use these tools to draw shapes. Here are some examples.

To use these tools to draw a perfect circle or square you simply hold down the shift key while dragging your mouse. You can use this on custom shapes as well.

That is it. easy wasn't it ?

Brushes -Using Them and Making Them- Adobe Photoshop

2012-01-25T02:28:00.000-08:00

OUR NEW STORE IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS

2012-01-19T02:57:00.000-08:00

I am back from holidays and back to work and first on the agenda was a revamp and server move for our store. You will find it here
If you are a digital scrapbooker you can find lots of products and some great sales and gifts to celebrate our move.

Tutorial Photoshop CS5 - How to apply Cross Processing effect (Xpro)

2011-12-08T01:41:00.000-08:00

Tutorial for Photoshop CS5 english - how to apply the cross processing effect to a photo, this effect gives an unnatural coloration to a photo and we can get every time a different result because we can choose which color to highlight.
The Cross Processing has been used in the movie Domino.[I apologise foe issue with the link not sure what happened]

Removing dust spots from your photos

2011-12-05T01:37:00.000-08:00

Learn how to effectively remove dust spots or blemishes from you digital images in Photoshop before you start your editing process.

How to remove a person from a picture in Photoshop Tutorial

2011-12-01T03:39:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wished you could remove someone from a photo. I know I have. Sometimes it could be done by cropping but more often then not a favourite photo was ruined by the presence of someone we would rather forget.
This is a great video tutorial that steps you through ways to remove a person at least on paper..

Free Digital Scrapbooking Resources.

2011-11-28T04:07:00.000-08:00

We like to support those starting out or experimenting with digital scrapbooking and also our valued customers with free things. At this time of year a cleanout of our files was required and we have a stash of gifts to bring to you over the coming holiday season.
As well as this we will point you in the direction of valuable free digital resources to assist in your scrapbooking and craft.
Whether you are into Flickr, facebook, or blogs we will have you covered with gifts. Check out our FREE STUFF tab for updated information.

Baby photography tips, how to photograph your baby

2011-11-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

I think most digital scrapbookers at one time or another have babies to scrap. What about the photos themselves though. A great photo is more important then any embellishments.
Tanya Puntti's SLR Photography Guide Blog has some great tips and as a new DSLR owner I am slowly working my way through them.
How to photograph your baby seems like a great place to start if you have babies in your family. You will find it here.

My personal tip when scrapbooking babies or children is don't be afraid to crop and take your photos up close. We don't always need the extraneous objects or backgrounds but just that awesome face. Sometimes backgrounds reference an event or a place but not always.
Here is an example.
This is my original photo of my 2 girls taken way back in 1990. I love the photo but don't need all the extraneous stuff. This does remind me where the pic was taken but just detracts from the girls.

I cropped it down closer to the girls and you can see this looks much better with the focus just on them.

Think of this when framing your shots as well and most of all enjoy taking the photos.

PhotoShop Actions: Explored and Explained

2011-11-21T23:04:00.000-08:00

New to photoshop ? Actions are a great time saving resource and easy to use.They can be used creatively on your photos, to automate taks like resizing to save time and also to make items to use in your design. Check out this great video tutorial that explains the details. Just press the go arrow.

HOW TO RETOUCH USING DODGE AND BURN

2011-11-19T16:23:00.000-08:00

I have played with the dodge and burn tools but never taken the time to read up on how to use them well. This week I will be practising thanks to PSDFan and this great tutorial.

Professional Retouching Tutorial: Dodge and Burn (Part 2) | PSDFan

In this Part 2 (of two) you will learn how to dodge and burn your photos in a unique but professional way, creating a super smooth skin surface. We look at the theory behind these techniques, and why it's worth spending the extra time on your retouching process!

Check it out here.

LOADING BRUSHES IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

2011-11-16T23:20:00.000-08:00

Tutorial uses PSE9 but steps are the same in PSE7 and 8.

BRUSHES ARE LOADED AFTER YOU OPEN ELEMENTS.

You can now continue with the action.

It is not recommended in PSE to leave too many brushes in or it will slow down.

Extracting Images in Photoshop CS5

2011-11-04T01:01:00.000-07:00

HOW TO LOAD CUSTOM SHAPES IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

2011-11-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

LOADING CUSTOM SHAPES IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

I often get asked about using custom shapes in Photoshop elements [PSE] and particularly by those who are trying to run actions that need a special shape. It is a simple process that can be achieved by even beginners. Just follow these easy steps.

Tutorial uses PSE9 but steps are the same in PSE7 and 8.

CUSTOM SHAPES MUST BE LOADED BEFORE YOU OPEN ELEMENTS.

Step 1

You need to navigate to C:\ProgramFiles\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 9\Presets\Custom Shapes [in Vista and Windows 7]

In Windows 7 64bit the folder will be ‘Program Files (x86)’

Simply copy the Custom shape file [.csh ] into this folder. Make sure you keep the original.

Step 2

Then you can open elements. Select custom shapes from the left side tools palette.

In the top menu bar select the little arrow next to shape. You will get a box open with your shapes.

On the right of that is another arrow - click on that and your installed shapes will be there and you

will see your shape you installed. Select it.

IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED THAT YOU INSTALL MANY CUSTOM SHAPES AT ONE TIME AS IT WILL SLOW DOWN ELEMENTS.

BETTER PRACTISE WOULD BE TO INSTALL AS YOU NEED AND REMOVE WHEN YOU INSTALL THE NEXT ONES FOR USE.

Retouching your photos - Healing

2011-10-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

How often do you need to get rid of a blemish in a photograph. I personally like to leave mine showing the person's character so I wouldn't remove something like a mole but those dreaded pimples are often on my teenagers photos. There are many ways to deal with this but one way is using the clone stamp. This is a very clear tutorial from PSDFANextras that shows you step by step how to retouch. It is great for home photographers wanting to retouch a photo as well as more advanced users.

Professional Retouching Tutorial: Healing (Part 1) | PSDFan

In this Part 1 (of two) you will learn how to heal your photos, removing any unwanted blemishes. Crucially, we look at the theory behind photo retouching, and why subtlety is key!

How do you make your own photoshop brushes ?

2011-10-27T01:14:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered ?? There are some awesome brushes out there and one site we love is Wegraphics.
They just released this great tutorial that is a walk through of the process for creating a brush set, down to the paper and paint to the scan and final prep work.
It has some great tips in easy steps and is well worth a look.

You will find it here.

Adding B&W to photos

2011-10-26T01:26:00.000-07:00

From Kerrie this tutorial shows you how to take a colour photo and change to B&W and colour emphasis certain parts of the photo. Written for Photoshop CS versions it can be adapted easily for PS Elements or Paint Shop Pro.
You can also download the pdf HERE

Adding B&W to a color photo for emphasis

Start with any color photograph.

Wedding pictures are great for this tip.

Duplicate the image

(select IMAGE>>DUPLICATE)

Convert duplicate image to grayscale (select IMAGE>>MODE>>GRAYSCALE and click OK).

Then Select all (CTRL+a) and copy (CTRL+c).

Go back to the color photograph and select EDIT>>PASTE LAYER

this will add the grayscale image on top of your color photograph layer.

On the grayscale layer, use your eraser tool

And erase all the parts where you want the color to show through. Make sure you adjust your brush size and be careful around the edges. To be more precise, press your Caps Lock key to change the cursor to a cross-hair.

Then save your photo under a new name so the original will not be affected.

Digital Cross processing in Photoshop

2011-10-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Digital Cross Processing in Photoshop » ideasplayer.com

ideasplayer.com
Cross processing is a photographic technique where the film is deliberately processed in a solution intended for another type of film.This is an awsome tutorial that shows you easily how to mimic this effect using Adobe camera raw.

Making digital backgrounds using overlays

2011-10-25T05:57:00.000-07:00

Making backgrounds using overlays
By Gem

Overlays at Digitalscrapn

Start by creating a new document. File - New, enter these settings: 12x12 inches, 300 dpi RGB. Fill it with the color of your choice.

Open the overlay you want to use and drag it over to your background document while holding
the left mouse-button down. If you hold down the Shift button at the same time, the overlay
will drop right onto the centre of your document.

The overlay is dropped on top of the new background layer.

Now you can go and change the Blending Mode, you ﬁnd it at the top of the Layers Palette.

Try out the different Blending Modes. When you get a result you like then keep it.

If you decide that you don’t like it after you have added a Blending Mode just open the Blending Mode drop down menu again and choose Normal.

You can change the opacity of the overlay by using the Opacity slider to the right of the Blending Mode. You ﬁnd the slider by clicking on the little arrow or you can just type in the amount of opacity you want.

A few samples of the different Blend Modes

Blend Mode Normal Blend Mode - Color Dodge

Blend Mode = Color Burn Blend Mode - Overlay

Blend Mode - Screen Blend Mode - Difference

You can add effects like Layer Styles, Patterns, Textures or Filters.

I have chosen to put a Layer Style - Bevel and Emboss on my ﬁnished background.
I have also put a Bevel and Emboss on the colored background layer to give it some structure.

If you don’t know how to use Layer Styles, see my previous tutorials.

Closeup of the ﬁnished background.

Happy scrapping.

Gem

http://www.digitalscrapn.com/

Photoshop Tutorial - Non-destructively Sharpen Your Image In Photoshop

2011-10-25T05:03:00.000-07:00

This is a great tutorial from PSDVault. They show you how to Non-destructively Sharpen Your Image, as a result bring out more photo details in Photoshop. You can apply this method to any and it is done in a non-destructive way, without damaging the original image.