Easy Access to Preferences

original source : bittbox

I want to show you one that I use often. I would only assume that as designers, we would typically have our rulers turned on most of the time. (I’ve tested this as far back as CS1) To access your Photoshop preferences quickly, just double-click on a ruler! That’s it!

The preference pane will open in the “Units & Rulers” section, which makes sense:

For whatever reason, this does not work in Illustrator. Man, a little consistency would be nice . . .

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How to Design Mini Icons

original source : webdesignerwall
Numbers of people have asked me how to design my popular Mini Pixel Icon pack>. In fact, they are relatively easy. All you need is just some basic Photoshop skills. Here I will show you how to use the Pencil tool to design pixel icons, and then re-use them to create a full collection.
This is the technique that I used to create over 320 icons within a day.
1. Create a new document
In Photoshop, create a new document 14 x 14px size with transparent background.

2. Draw shape outline
Use the Pencil tool, select 1px brush from the palette. Pick a dark gray color and start drawing the outline of the page icon. To draw a straight line, first click at the starting point, then hold down shift key and click at the ending point.

Tips: At any time if you want to erase the pixels, use the Eraser tool, select Pencil mode and 1px brush size.

3. Base gradient
Make a selection of the empty cutout by the Magic Wand tool. Create a new layer. Set your foreground color to light gray and background to white. Use Gradient tool, drag from top corner to lower corner diagonally.

4. Highlight and shadow
Create a new layer. Draw a 1px white inner top border to create the highlight effect. Then, draw a medium gray inner bottom border.

5. Group all layers
In the Layers palette, select all layers and press Cmd+G to group all layers in a folder.

6. Draw a pencil

Again, start drawing the outline first and then fill the inner area with either solid color or gradient. When you are done, group these layers in a separate folder.

Tips: If you want to have consistent color throughout the icon set, store the colors that you have used in the color swatches.
7. Re-use them
Here shows how I re-used the layer groups to create entire collection:

8. Export for web
After you’ve done entire set, toggle (invisible / visible) the layer groups and save them for web (Cmd+Alt+Shift+S).

Too lazy to do this tutorial? You can download from ndesign-studio at free mini icon set.

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Blurring: Motion and Radial

original source from : graphic-design

[Editor's Note: Here's one of those frequent questions we get in the Photoshop 911 emergency room -- "What can I do to make this photo more dynamic?" The Photoshop Retouching Cookbook for Digital Photographers, has tons of great techniques that can expand on that concept many times over! Thanks to O'Reilly Publishing we're able to bring the technique to you in its entirety! ]

Mr. Barry Huggins is back once again to share his Photoshop Retouching expertise in this issue of DTG! This time, we're going to investigate ...

Barry Huggins writes...

Capturing a fleeting moment on camera is one of the most satisfying aspects of photography, but this doesn't necessarily mean sharp focus and fine detail. Pin-sharp clarity suits a single drop of water hitting the still surface of a pond, but a slow exposure can turn a waterfall into a beautiful, shimmering blur.

While sharp focus can freeze motion in time, blurring can create a powerful impression of movement. Photoshop's Motion Blur filter is designed with this in mind.

The Motion Blur Filter

1 Preparation:
Using Motion Blur effectively takes a little preparation. Used straight on an image, it creates a loss of detail, or merely replicates the effect of camera shake. In this image, we want to preserve detail while creating a feeling of rapid motion.

2 Selection:
To start, make a feathered selection of the rear half of the girl. A Feather setting of about 6 pixels should be sufficient for a lowresolution shot, but you need to use higher values for high-resolution images.

Finish a "quick and dirty" selection -- the blur effect means that accuracy isn't vital -- then press
Ctrl/Cmd + J to copy and paste it to a new layer.
Call the new layer "copied selection."

3 Now Blur Keep the copied selection layer active and go to
Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Set the angle to 0 degrees and the distance to 90 pixels.

Make sure the Move tool is selected, then press the right arrow key on the keyboard about 12 times
to move the selection to the right.
This gives the impression that the girl is leaving a blur of movement in her wake.
For a stronger effect, merely duplicate the copied selection layer.

TIP Blurring with Blend Modes

After duplicating the copied selection layer, try changing the blend mode of the top version to Lighten.
This produces an almost ghostly effect.

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PHOTOSHOP FOR BEGINNERS

original source from : photoshopgurus


Please do not take offense to the term "Newbie". Trust me... everybody's been one at least once. Even me!

By going through the 3 simple ideas on this page, we hope to come away with at least this one important thing... cutting down your learning curve as much as possible!

And don't forget, you can also check out the PSG Forum to find answers and post questions, as well as post any images you'd like to show off, or have other visitors respond to.

Let's get this out of the way first...
Don't EVER think that just because you cannot create or recreate something exactly like someone else that that is a BAD thing... it's most definitely NOT. It's a GOOD thing. Trust me! What's most important about doing ANY tutorials, is whether you learned the specified techniques it describes. And whether it's helped you in any way to learn to use Photoshop better than you knew how to before the tutorial. That's the ONLY merit any tutorial could ever hope to have. It's not about creating spectacular graphics when you're just beginning. It's about learning to use Photoshop; substance is much more important than quality at this stage. The 'great graphics' will come in time all on their own. Please believe that.

Straightening the learning curve...
The time you spend doing the things I will suggest on this page will help you to get the most out of the new and, no doubt, exciting things that you will be learning from all of the Photoshop sites on the web that you go to. Not just mine.

Don't misunderstand me here though. I'm not saying that you shouldn't go out and try all of the cool effects tutorials out on the web. What I'm merely saying is that if you find yourself confused about something, or an effect doesn't work quite the way you thought it should, then do these things first before giving up on it or mailing someone for help. Or as I like to think...
“Try getting your feet wet in the pool of your own knowledge first,
before asking someone else to let you soak in theirs.”

1. Look in the help file under "edit"

There is where you will find a whole lot of information on most of the tools and basic functions of Photoshop

2. Open a picture or photograph

With the image opened, browse around in the menus and try things out.
This will take you all of an hour or so, but believe me, the next time you try someone's tutorials you'll be much more comfortable & confident following the instructions they're trying to explain to you.

What I mean by browse is, have a look at the content of Photoshop's many menus.

Open the IMAGE menu and apply some functions.
Open the IMAGE/Adjustment... menu and apply ALL of the functions in that menu.
Open the LAYER menu and apply ALL of the functions in that menu.

This will take a bit of time, but I'll tell you right now that the functions contained in the LAYER menu are the most misunderstood and unexplored functions that you'll find in tutorials around the web; including mine! If you can get even a slight understanding of the functions under the LAYER menu, as well as remembering where they are when you need them, you'll be a lot farther along when it comes to learning other people's tutorials.


T I P S

Here's something I'll do EVERY TIME I'm trying to achieve an effect I'm not familiar with, or an effect I'm doing for the first time: (even if it's a very simple effect!)

When I try out different filters/techniques, looking for the one that'll get the effect I'm after, I'll try AT LEAST 3 settings for each filter/technique I try - low settings (subtle effect), medium settings (average effect), & high settings (extreme effect). After doing that with a variety of the filters, and doing that every time you are looking for a specific effect, you'll very quickly start to learn what each filter is capable of - and most of the time, you'll also discover that every PS filter can be used for at least 1 other type of effect that it was not originally designed to produce (usually it's more than 1). And THAT is what will teach you more about Photoshop than any book (or PS Guru) ever could.

A good side-tip to that advice is to scour the Web and see what others have done with PS. That can also provide you with some ideas of the program's abilities. And, a lot of the time, it'll inspire you to try something specific yourself - which will lead you to the process I mentioned above.

3. Create a new document with a transparent background

Now use the Type Tool and create a text image. By default, Photoshop should automatically turn on or check the 'Preserve Transparency' box for a text layer; located on the top left side of the Layers palette. This is now called 'Lock Transparency' in PS6 and up.
In PS 5.5 and earlier: The only time it doesn't do this is if you've created a new layer for your text yourself first.
In PS6 and up: Photoshop will always 'Lock' layer transparency -- even after you've 'Rasterized' the layer.

Now, so long as that is checked on, anything that you do to the text in your layer WILL NOT affect the area surrounding the text. It will only affect the area that is inside the text itself -- the pixels that make up the letters. Thus, Photoshop is 'preserving' the transparent areas of the layer; if there is any.

So... knowing that now, go ahead and do things to your Type layer. Apply filters, paint a different color into it, apply the Spherize & Twirl filters to it. In other words... get to know what happens to your image when you have the 'Preserve Transparency' box turned ON. And you'll ALSO learn to know which filters and functions you cannot apply to a Type layer, without first Rendering/Rasterizing it.

The 'Preserve/Lock Transparency' option has always been one of the most common things that people have tended to over-look, when trying to apply an effect, and it doesn't seem to work out properly for them. Keep in mind too that this function can be turned on for any type of layer containing transparent areas -- not just for Type layers.


The time you spend doing these things I've suggested on this page, will help you to get the most out of the new and, no doubt, exciting things that you will be learning from ALL of the Photoshop sites on the web that you go to. Including mine! Please consider doing these things BEFORE you tackle that next 'cool text effects' tutorial you've had your eye on. You really will see an improved understanding of what it is the person giving the tutorial is trying to explain to you. If I come up with any more suggestions for this page I will post them. If this interests you then please come back & check this page out to see if I've added any new ideas ok.

Good luck!

Copyright © Mark Anthony Larmand

for more information please visit   forum

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Buddy Icon ( ezphotoshop.info )

original source from : ezphotoshop

Fed up with Yahoo Messenger or Windows Live Messenger Buddy Icon. Let’s create your own glossy web 2.0 style buddy icon. Now kick it start!

Step 1: Create a 500×500. Create a new layer, named Border. Use Ellipse Tool to draw a circle (as big as you want)

Step 2: Use Direct selection tool, click on the lower part of the circle. Then choose Pen Tool, click on node where the black arrow pointed. Drag till you have in the next picture

Step 3: Set the Brush Tool like the below image, then use Pen Tool again to stroke the path, using Red color.

Step 4: Create new layer, named Body, Use Pentool to fill the path. Choose a different color from the Border. After filling the Body, delete the path. We now have this:

Step 5: Double click on the Body layer, in the Inner Shadow, set these settings:

and then we have:

Step 6: Create new Layer, named Shadow1, use Pen Tool to draw like this:

Step 7: Fill it with White color

Step 8: Make new Layer, named Shadow2. Then draw another shadow like the below

Step 9: Use Erase Tool, set the Opacity to 17. Erase the Shadow2. Then adjust the Shadow1 and Shadow2 Opacity to the value which fits your taste

Step 10: Use this Brush Setting to draw the eyes and mouth

Step 11: Add some accessories, we have the final work like this

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