I Love Photoshop

How to create a colorful funky header for your blog

2011-11-09T13:59:00.001+02:00

A great way to give your blog a fun, exciting feel is by creating a colorful, funky header that will attract the attention of visitors and add a splash of creativity to your blog’s overall appearance.

This tutorial is based on a header I created for a client’s blog a while ago. I’ve used Photoshop CS5, but any older version will work as well.

Step 1. Start off with a blank 950x170 canvas.

Step 2. Paste this texture as a new layer on the blank canvas.

Step 3. Type Jordan-Alicia.com in black, using the font Curlz MT and enlarge the writing until it neatly occupies the center part of your banner.

Then, right click on the layer name and choose Rasterize Layer in order to convert the text to a simple layer.

Double click on the layer name and use the following settings to add a thick brown border:

You should have this at the end of this step:

Step 4. Duplicate the layer you’ve just worked on and change its Stroke settings to the following:

You should obtain this:

Step 5. In order to create the give the text the color it needs, you can download this flowery pattern or any other beautiful pattern of your choice. Once the file is downloaded, unzip the archive and double click the .pat file. This will make the pattern pack visible on your Pattern Overlay page later.

Duplicate the previous layer (Layer 3) and change the Stroke settings to the following:

Then use the following settings on the Pattern Overlay page…

…as well as on the Color Overlay page:

This is how the header should look at the end of step 5:

Step 6. The final step involves adding a slight shadow around the edges of the header, in order to subtly focus the attention on the colorful text at the center.

To achieve this, create a new layer and with a large, soft brush in dark gray, paint at a low opacity around the edges of the canvas.

The end result:

Since this is a very versatile type of header, you can experiment further with it by using different patterns, different background textures, adding borders etc.

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2010-12-26T13:04:00.004+02:00

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2010-11-14T12:58:00.003+02:00

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Give a dull landscape a vibrant photographic effect

2010-08-28T20:45:00.003+03:00

This tutorial will show you how to transform a dull photo of a waterscape into a vibrant image with a photographic effect. This easy technique can be used to enhance your personal travel pictures or your photographer’s portfolio.

1. Start off by downloading this image and opening it in Photoshop.

2. Then, duplicate the layer and set the resulting layer to grayscale. Then, with a medium soft brush, mask out everything but the sky (it doesn’t have to be perfect), as shown below:

3. Next, we’re going to add some better clouds to replace this rather dull sky. Download this image and position it as shown below over the image and mask away everything but the sky. Set the layer’s blending mode to Darken.

4. Then, we’re going to create a vivid photographic effect that will bring out the best in this image, by adding several adjustment layers as follows:

Add a new Hue/Saturation… adjustment layer with the settings below:

Add a new Channel Mixer adjustment layer with the following settings:

Add a new Curves… adjustment layer and modify the RGB curves as shown:

Add a new Selective Color… adjustment layer with the settings below:

Finally, add another Hue/Saturation… adjustment layer:

At this point, the image should look something like this:

5. To add a dark vignette effect, create a new layer and paint on its edges with a very large, round and soft brush, to get something similar to this:

6. Flatten the image and add a dark gray border (exact color: #212121) by going to Image -> Canvas Size… and using these settings:

7. Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen… and use the following settings:

The final result:

Create a newspaper page

2009-07-23T12:37:00.007+03:00

This tutorial will show you how to create an image that will look like a scanned newspaper page.

Step 1. Create a new document, size 630x900 and fill it with it a light, warm gray (color code #e4e4e4).

Step 2. To make the final result make more realistic, it’s necessary to mimic the way you can see the writing on the back page on a real newspaper.

To achieve this effect, open an image of a newspaper page you can find on the Internet (I chose this one), go to Image-> Rotate Canvas -> Flip Canvas Horizontal and then copy/paste it over the new document you just created. Set its opacity to 5%, so that the writing is only a bit visible.

Step 3. Newspaper articles often contain pictures, so I opened this one and resized it to 35%, and I placed it on the left like this:

Step 4. To convert the image to black and white, the best method is to go to Image -> Adjustments -> Channel Mixer… tick Monochrome and leave all the other settings as default.

Step 5. In order to create the headlines, I used Century Old Style Std, Italic, size 40pt and 24pt respectively. You may use any other font that is very legible and simple.

Step 6. To create the subtitles, I used Century Old Style Std, Bold, size 18pt. I left some space between them and the picture, and the headlines, in order to achieve an elegant, uncluttered look.

Don’t worry if the text you’ve done until now is not properly aligned. You can easily fix that later.

Step 7. Now it’s time to create the content of the news article. You need to create a text box: using the Type Tool, click on the desired starting point of the text box and drag down to create a rectangle.

Though it’s not visible in the screenshot above, the text box doesn’t go all the way to the bottom of the page. I’ve left a blank edge on the bottom of the page, because we’re later going to add the date and day of the week there, just like on genuine newspapers.

Step 8. Paste some text of your choice into the text box you’ve created (my source was Wikipedia). The font I used is Century Old Style Std, Regular, 14pt.

Notice that I’ve used a Sans Serif font. Because of their high legibility, most magazines and newspaper articles use Sans Serif fonts for the main body of text.

Step 9. Create a second text box as shown at step 7 and paste some text, using the font at step 8.

Step 10. The final step is to create a text box and add some text in the lower part of the page. I used the font Century Old Style Std, Regular, 12pt.

In order to verify and align the way the text and pictures fit on the page, go to View -> Show -> Grid. To change the position of a certain element, use the left and right arrow keys, or the Move Tool.

The final result:

Create digital makeup

2009-06-21T19:33:00.009+03:00

This tutorial will show you how to apply digital makeup and additionally, how to change the eye color, smooth the skin texture of a model and enhance the image.

Though the process of applying makeup in Photoshop is fairly simple, the most important thing about digital makeup is that, by all means, it must look natural. It’s always better to "underdo" it than to overdo it, so keep that in mind while following this tutorial. Less is more, therefore try to be subtle.

The initial image (credits to sxc.hu):

The final result:

Step 1. First of all, we’re going to smooth the skin texture of the model. This will give the whole image a professional feel and improve its overall aspect.

Duplicate the background layer and go to Filter -> Noise -> Median and insert a value of 3. Next, go to Filter -> Blur… -> Gausian Blur … and insert 3 again.

Add a layer mask to the layer you just blurred, fill it with black and start painting with white over the skin, with a soft brush, varying the size according to the area. Make sure you avoid the lines of the face, eyes etc. because you don’t want to blur those, just the skin.

Step 2. Now we’re going to change the lip color to mimic a light pink lipstick. First, press Q in order to enter the Quick Mask editing mode, and then choose a soft brush, choose black as the color and then zoom in and paint over the lips. You’ll notice that instead of black, it will seem as if you were painting with red; this is because you’re in the mask mode. Make sure you don’t go over the edges. If you make any mistake, just choose white and paint over that part.

Switch back to Standard Mode by pressing Q again and you’ll notice a selection appear. The advantage of using the mask mode to select is that you have far more control over the selection than by using the Lasso Tool.

Go to Select -> Inverse and then to Image -> Adjustments -> Hue/Saturation… (or simply press Ctrl+U for the dialog box to appear) and insert the following settings:

Press Ctrl+H to hide your selection (this will not deselect the area, it will just make the marquee around it disappear), so that you can see clearly the edges of the selection. If you notice that an unwanted area around the lips turned pink, simply press Q to enter the Quick Mask Mode again, zoom in and carefully paint with black over that area. Then switch back to the standard mode by pressing Q again and take a look at the result.

Add a subtle highlight on her lower lip by using the Dodge Tool, a small soft brush, exposure set to 70%. With a slightly bigger brush you may highlight her upper lip, again in a very subtle way.

When you’ve finished, make sure the area of the lips is deselected to continue to the next step.

Step 3. To change the eye color, select the eyes by using the same method you used for the lips, and then press Ctrl+U to bring up the Hue/Saturation dialog box, check Colorize and use the following settings:

Press Ctrl+H and check for any mistakes. If there are any, fix them as previously shown with the lips.

Step 4. Now we’re going to do the eye makeup. Select the eyelashes on her lower eyelid by using the Lasso Tool, with a feather setting of 5. Go to Image -> Adjustments -> Brightness/Contrast… and lower the Brightness to -10. Deselect the area.

Create a new layer and paint with a purple, soft brush on it, over the area between her eyebrows and eyes.

Set the layer blending mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 35%. Then refine the edges of the area by erasing with a large soft brush around it, making sure it blends in well and looks natural.

Step 5. To enhance the effect of the image, we can now adjust its color cast to better match the changes we made.

Add a Selective color adjustment layer with the following settings:

Reds: -43 0 -22 +7
Yellows: 0 0 0 -41
Neutrals: 0 0 0 -7

Step 6. Add another Selective color adjustment layer, in order to change the color of her dress from cyan to purple:

Cyans: -100 +100 -100 +100

You will notice that this layer will slightly affect the color of the eyes. I actually liked it better that way, so I didn’t change it.

If you don’t like that, then choose a soft brush and paint with black on the layer mask of the adjustment layer (I’ve highlighted it with yellow on the following screenshot).

Finally, go to Image -> Adjustments -> Auto Levels to really bring out the colors of the image and remove the somewhat reddish color cast it had.

The final result:

Transform a normal image into an artistic one

2009-06-11T23:00:00.015+03:00

One of the reasons why Photoshop is so popular nowadays is the unbelievable control it gives you over the images you want to edit. By using the right filters and techniques you can easily transform any bland, lifeless shot into an impressive, artistic dreamscene. It only takes a few steps to turn this image:

into this:

So let’s begin!

Step 1. Open the original image and Duplicate the background layer. Set the resulting layer to Soft Light, 100%. Then go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur and insert a value of 5.

Step 2. Duplicate the second layer and press Shift+Ctrl+U to desaturate it. You should now have something that looks like this:

I normally avoid using blurs in my artwork, but in this particular case this effect is very welcome because it gives the entire image a very soft, dreamy glow.

Step 3. To enhance the colorcast of the image, add a Selective color filter with the following settings:

Yellows: 0 0 0 +100
Whites: -25 -5 +100 -25
Neutrals: +10 +15 +20 0
Black: 0 +20 0 0

Then select all the layers, right click and choose Create new smart object, like this:

Step 4. Create a new layer and fill it with black, then move it (by clicking on it and dragging it) down below the smart object. Add a layer mask to the smart object you just created. Now with a very large soft brush, opacity: 35%, paint with black on the mask, around the edges of the canvas to create a dark vignette. It’s preferrable to zoom out to get some perspective over what you’re doing. Make sure you don’t overdo it, because this effect needs to be subtle.

The vignette will focus the viewers’ attention on the central part of the image, while also adding a slightly dark feeling to it.

Step 5. Go to Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen… and enter the following settings: Amount: 40%, Radius: 1 pixel. A dialog box will appear asking whether you want to rasterize the smart object, choose Yes.
Duplicate the layer you just sharpened and go to Filter -> Blur -> Radial Blur… Choose Zoom as the Blur Method and 10 as the Amount.
Next add a layer mask to the blurred layer and paint with black on it using a large, soft brush. Make sure you leave the outer edges white. If you make any mistakes just brush over that area with white or black, according to whether you want it to be visible or not.

This will further draw the viewers’ attention towards the center of the image, especially to the bright patch of light visible in the higher left.

Step 6. To further enhance the image’s colours, add a Curves adjustment layer that looks like this:

Step 7. To give the gray background a cyan hue that will contrast with the yellow in the leaves, add a Selective color adjustment layer with the following settings:

Step 8. To add a finishing touch you may add some text of your choice. I chose a very simple message, but I encourage you to come up with something even more suggestive. The font I used for “Autumn Leaves” is Trajan Pro, 36 pts for the capital letters and 30 pts for the rest of the text. For the “by anja” part I used Vujahday Flourish, 30 pts.

I placed the text near the bright spot of light because it’s really aesthetically pleasing, since that part is the main focus of the entire image.

Step 9. Duplicate both text layers and for each resulting layer, go to Filter -> Blur -> Motion Blur (choose Yes when Photoshop asks you whether to rasterize the layer) and enter 150. Place these layers below the text layers.

Then select one of the text layers and add an Outer glow with the following settings:

Right click on the same text layer and choose Copy layer style. Then right click on the other text layer and choose Paste layer style.

The final result:

Basic Retouch and Colorization

2009-04-20T13:24:00.015+03:00

This tutorial will show you how to do a basic retouch, change the colorcast of an image and colorize some of its elements.

Step 1. We will use this Naomi Watts image:

Duplicate the layer then go to Filter -> Noise -> Median...and enter a value of around 3 pixels. Then go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur... and enter 5 pixels.

Step 2. Add a layer mask (by pressing the third button on the lower part of the Layers Palette) to the layer you have just blurred and fill it with black. Then pick a soft, medium sized brush and start painting with white on the layer mask. Make sure you avoid any lines on the face; use it only on the skin, to get a smooth, professional effect. Vary the brush size and opacity depending on the area. Avoid blurring the eyes, lips or hair.

After you finish this step, you should get something like this:

Step 3. Add a Curves adjustment layer with the following settings:

Step 4. Add a Selective Color adjustment layer with the following settings then fill its mask with black.

Reds: -55 0 0 0
Neutrals: -20 +15 –40 +5

Now paint with white over the lips and you will notice they’ll turn a light pink. Make sure you follow the edges of the lips properly.

Step 5. Add another Selective Color adjustment layer with these settings:

Yellows: -100 0 0 0
Whites: 0 0 0 –25
Neutrals: +20 –10 –50 +8

Fill its mask with black and carefully paint with white over the eyes.

Step 6. Go to Layer -> Flatten Image, then to Filter -> Sharpen -> Smart Sharpen... and use the following settings:

Finally, go to Image -> Canvas Size… and choose black as a color, 40 pixels for both Width and Height to add a stylish outer border.

The final result:

Create a Vivid Celebrity Blend

2009-04-19T23:46:00.001+03:00

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a bright, vivid blend of a celebrity of your choice. As for any Photoshop creation you do, make sure you choose good quality images that are part of the same photoshoot.

I have chosen these three images:

Step 1. Create a new document, sized 800x600 and place the first image in the center.

Step 2. Paste the other two pictures over the base image and resize them, then use the Eraser Tool to erase the unwanted overlapping parts. (Or you could add a layer mask and paint with black all the parts you want to disappear. The advantage of layer masks is that you can easily repair any errors or go back and modify them later).

After either erasing or masking out the unneeded parts, you should have something like this:

Step 3. From this step on, all we need to work on is the chromatic effect of the final image. Therefore, we will use various Selective Color and Curves adjustment layers to enhance the colours of our image.

First we will add a Selective Color adjustment layer with the following settings:

Reds: -100 0 0 0
Yellows: 0 0 -90 -100
Neutrals: 100 0 -50 0

Next, we're going to add a Curves adjustment layer, with the following RBG settings:

Step 4. Create a new layer on top of the others and fill it with a dark beige (color code b78a58). Then set this layer's blending mode to Linear Burn and its opacity to 55%.

Add a Selective Color layer with the following settings
and then duplicate it.

Reds: -47 0 +17 0
Neutrals: +13 0 -20 0

And finally, add another Curves layer:

Step 5. The final step is to add some text like the name of the artist and your own, perhaps some song lyrics too. I'm going to add a Kylie logo, using this font (only works one-letter uppercase: A, B, C...). I used the letter 'I', then duplicated the layer and set the copy slightly to the right, behind the other layer. Then I set the first layer to a bright cyan (color code 21a2e4) and the second layer to a deep pink (color code fb2d5d).

Step 6. Add an outer border by going to Image -> Canvas size..., choosing the color white and inserting the value 40 pixels for both Width and Height. Then go to the same menu again and insert 2 pixels for both Width and Height, and choose the color gray.

The final result:

Create an Abstract Landscape Blend

2009-04-19T19:34:00.001+03:00

The purpose of this tutorial is to show you how to create an abstract, bright blend by using pictures of landscapes.

We will start by using these two images:

Step 1. Open the first image and paste the second one on top of it, using the blending mode: Lighten, 100%.

Step 2. Emphasize the colours of the image by applying successively three Selective Color layers, as follows:

The first layer:
Reds: -92 0 0 0
Cyans: -44 +100 0 -36
Blues: +100 -43 0 +25
Neutrals: -51 0 +100 +52

The second layer:
Reds: -100 0 +100 0
Cyans: 0 0 -100 0
Blues: -57 0 -100 0
Neutrals: +25 0 -40 0

The third layer:
Reds: -100 0 +100 0
Neutrals: +20 0 -20 0

To further emphasize the image, we will use a Curves adjustment:

Step 3. Now we will add the text. A handwriting font will always look great on this type of blend. I chose the font Carpenter, 130 pts, Color: white, without applying to it any further effects and wrote 'Summer bliss'. Then I duplicated the layer, moved it slightly upwards and changed its color to 5857fd (the color code is inserted here).

Another alternative for styling the text would have been (without duplicating the text layer) to go to Blending Options -> Stroke and add a 1 pt pink or orange outer border to it.

Step 4. Add a thick outer border to the final image by going to Image -> Canvas Size… and inserting the value 20 pixels for both Width and Height, and choosing the color white. Then go to the same menu again and choose 2 pixels for both Width and Height, and choose the color gray (notice that it will appear as orange because of the Selective Color layers).

The final result:

Create a Dreamscene Landscape

2009-04-19T19:07:00.002+03:00

This tutorial will teach you how to transform a plain image of a landscape into a mesmerizing, artistic scene. This is the image we will be starting from:

Step 1. Open the image and paste this texture over it using the blending mode: Lighten, 100%.

Step 2. Paste the texture again over the image, this time using this blending mode: Hard Light, 100%. To create an elegant vignette effect, choose the Eraser Tool, with a very large diameter (to obtain a smooth, uniform effect) and use it on the center of the image as seen in the screenshot below:

Another interesting alternative would be choosing Screen, 100% instead of Hard Light and then duplicating the layer to accentuate the effect.

Step 3. The next step is to really bring out the best out of this image by enhancing its colors. You can accomplish this by successively adding three Selective Color adjustment layers. Keep in mind that depending on the initial image these settings can result in different outcomes.

The first layer:
Greens: -100 -100 +100 0
Cyans: 100 0 -100 0
Neutrals: +30 0 -30 +5

The second layer:
Yellows: -100 0 0 0
Greens: -100 +100 +100 0
Cyans: 100 0 -100 0
Neutrals: 0 0 -30 +5

The third layer:
Neutrals: +46 0 +46 0

Step 4. Next we’re going to add an appropriate text. I’ve chosen one of the quotes here. The placement of the text is very important so try to position it on the left bottom part of the image, in a way that will compliment the whole composition. For this tutorial I chose a white color, Palatino Linotype, 14pt and added an Outer Glow effect with the opacity set to 25%.

Step 5. We will finish by adding this light texture beneath the text. Paste it and modify it accordingly to fit the image. The effect has to be subtle, but noticeable. I used Blur -> Motion Blur on a distance of 34 pixels. Then by pressing Ctrl+T I rotated it to place it diagonally. Then I deleted some unnecessary parts and some areas underneath the text that made it difficult to read.

The final result:

By using this image and following the same steps, I also obtained this:

Experiment with different Selective Color settings and light textures to obtain different effects, be creative!

About

2009-04-10T11:22:00.001+03:00

My name is Anja Emerson and I'm an experienced freelance writer and passionate graphic designer, with an eye for all things beautiful.

‘I Love Photoshop’ is a personal blog created with the purpose of sharing Photoshop techniques, resources and tutorials with other Photoshop users.

Contact

2009-04-10T11:13:00.001+03:00

If you'd like to exchange links, place an ad on this blog or suggest some new tutorial ideas, please feel free to contact me using the form below. Thank you!