samak asked:


I want to learn how to do basic things on adobe photoshop CS2? For example, how can I draw basic things like lines, squares, circles, and shapes? (also cut, paste, etc) What are some tips that will save me a lot of time, and what are some common mistakes and things to avoid? And how can I learn how to use layers properly? Keep in mind that the only drawing software I know how to use is the old “mspaint” on windows.

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Grant Freeman asked:


When you hear talk about product marketing, you hear words like, ecovers, ecover generators, and even using photoshop actions and templates to make CD Covers, DVD Covers, Ebook Covers for your products.

If you’re selling information products, you want a quick and smiple solution for getting your customers familiar with your product, and increasing sales volume.

The buzz about using ecover software and Photoshop as a time & money-saving alternative started around May of 2003 when several web marketers found thier nitche, and the idea was successful.

Andrew Jackson of MGI Software, an Internet software and services company, says that “there is a 30% increase in sales and a 50% reduction in returned goods with the use of 3D imaging.” – Los Angeles Business Journal, December 17, 2000

Do a search on DVD Cover Designs, CD Cover Designs, or eBook Covers, and you’ll find a handful of website that sell a kit specifically designed to save you time and money.

Photographers and Graphic designers charge you between $50 to $80 per hour for the work.

When a highly respected product photographer takes a photo, more than likely it will be digitized into Photoshop for color correction and enhancement. Using photoshop for making ecovers just makes perfect sense.

“A growing number of e-businesses are experimenting with the rapidly emerging field of three-dimensional web technology. Others are counting on 3-D to add new levels of excitement and realism to e-commerce websites (…) Photo realism really enhances believability.” CIO Magazine, “3-D Finally Gets Serious”

Some of what you may find are packages containing pre-made Photoshop templates and Photoshop Actions that let you add your own text, have full control of fonts, background images, colors, and even add effects that best match your product or company brand.

Photoshop actions work well because the actions are nothing more than a series of recorded tasks that have already taken place in order to create the stunning ecover.

The awesome combination between premade photoshop templates and actions work much better than the ecover generator sofware for several reasons:

1) You’re working with relyable software from a wellknown company like Adobe. You know that the software is stable and is used by design industry professionals.

2) Free Trial Versions are most always available to try for free.

3) The people behind the photoshop ecover designs are more than likely graphic designers. Check thier work for attention to detail depending on how realistic and professional looking you want your ecover to be.

4) Unlike software “generators”, you are limited to the effects and options that are knowhere near the expertise, freedom, flexiblility, and raw power of Photoshop & actions.

Where product photographers require you bring your products and to come to their in house studio and pay around $50.00 per hour (not including setup fees), automated product cover software allows you to design and upload a professional image of your product in less than a few hours.

With the speed of automating a 3 dimensional image that looks just as good as the real thing in under 5 minutes, that is cost effective!

But buyer beware. Some automated product cover design packages are not created equal. Most only allow you to make images of your products at only 72 dpi, while others like Grant’s 5-Minute DVD, CD, and Ebook Cover Designs and Actions for Photoshop (http://www.designbygrant.com/marketing-products.php) allow you to create images at up to 300 dpi.

This means that you can take full advantage of almost every marketing effort you can think of, including:

-Product Posters & Billboards

-HDTV Broadcast Comericals

-Trade show banners and backdrops

What’s the best part you ask? That’s simple. The best part is that if you already have Photoshop, you can save hours and even days to effectively market your product on the internet, and anywhere else you can reach your customers.

If you don’t have Photoshop, download it directly from the Adobe website and try it free.

© Copyright 2006. Grant Freeman

About The Author

Grant Freeman has been a Freelance Graphic Designer, Web Designer, Photographer, Video Editor, and Creative Director for over 13 years. His most noted clients include Sony, Bertolucci, Land Rover, and various International Recording Artist in the U.S.

Visit Grants website online at www.designbygrant.com for Photoshop learning, and various creative business to business solutions.



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David Peters asked:


Brush tool in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 combines the Quick Selection tool (Elements 6) and adjustment layers; it offers a quick way to adjust, enhance, and add effects to your photographs and is located in the Full Edit area of the Editor.

When you click on the Smart Brush a menu pops open showing nine categories of nearly 70 effects that can be applied to your photo. It\’s great because all you have to do is make your choice from the list and simply paint over the area you want the effect to be applied. After you begin drawing your initial selection the tool automatically switches to the Add to Selection mode. To remove any part of your selected area you can hold down Alt on your keyboard and paint away the parts you want to get rid of.

Just how does it work? If you take a look at the Layers palette, you\’ll see that an adjustment layer was created-in our example, a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer-along with the layer mask that accompanies adjustment layers. The area you selected is shown in white on the mask, thus revealing the effect. The black areas on the mask are hiding the effect.

To edit the effect, you can either double-click the adjustment layer in the Layers palette or you can double-click the red adjustment pin located in your selection on the image. As long as the adjustment layer is one supported by Adobe Elements, the dialog box for that adjustment layer will open and you can make any changes you wish.

Please take note that some of the presets were actually created using an adjustment layer included in the full version of Photoshop and not in Elements, so you won\’t be able to edit these effects.

The very latest tips on leaning photoshop and elements editing software along with simple to follow videos. You will be provided with the first steps to get to grips with learning Photoshop tricks and you will build up your confidence as an Adobe editing software user.

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Mariusz Kamienski asked:


People buy Adobe Photoshop because they want one thing – professional quality images. One of the problems that come along with purchasing the program is learning how to use it to get the quality results you want. Now you have available at your fingertips one of the most comprehensive computer based tutorials for Photoshop, “Learn Photoshop Now”.

Within a matter of hours, students will be able to master the basic functions in Photoshop. Transform old photographs in new ones using a simple shortcut. Get rid of the red-eye effect in many photos. Learn to use the Palette Well and other important Photoshop tools that seem cumbersome to understand.

Learn to work with the tools that the professionals use. Using functions like “Grow” and “layering” to create seamless works of art every time! Discard the time wasters by using short cuts and tricks. Learn how to navigate through your images in Adobe Photoshop.

Make the subjects of your photos look better by adding photograph enhancements. Learn how to get teeth looking pearly white, how to remove blemishes and double chins and how to remove wrinkles. People will love your work because you know how to make them look great in their photographs!

Learn Photoshop Now will teach you how to make logos and other graphics designs in Adobe. A single logo design could cost you anywhere from $300 to $500. You can save that money, but you now also have a way to generate some cash flow just from using a resource you already purchased!

Having effective tools and resources are the reasons why learning systems are successful. As people strive to do more with less time, they will be looking for training systems that can help them grasp the skills they need quickly and easily. Learn Photoshop Now does that for their students.

Professional Artists keep up with current events in their field. Learn Photoshop Now not only offers you training on how to use the Adobe Photoshop program, they also provide a blog full of resources that will keeps artists in the learning stage of their career. Discover new tips and tricks to help get the job done in Photoshop quicker and easier!

David Peters is a well-established Adobe Photoshop Coach. He understands the needs and fears of new Photoshop users and has helped many people with his tutorial series. Also of proven value are his ongoing email updates which keep his students at the forefront of learning.

Blogs are a quickly growing medium for the distributions of information. Learn Photoshop Now is using this cutting edge medium as a means to keep in touch with their students. They can find news, tips, tricks and updates for Photoshop that aren’t taught on the computer based tutorials. Specific topics have included the CS3 Red Eye Tutorial, Photography Tips – “Ghosting”, Photoshop Lab Color and more!

Learning Photoshop Now is quickly becoming a valuable leader as a training system for Adobe Photoshop. Students are raving about the results they are getting as a result of using this easy to understand system.



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Joesph Till asked:


Photoshopping is a process of manipulation of digital photographs. It has become more popular after a fall in price of digital imaging software and hardware. Photoshopping is now a widely popular pastime on the internet. Many of the editors considers this image fakery to be a form of new creative art, when photoshopping is applied as a means of funny spoof. It is although a good pastime of part-time pixel pushers; even working persons are getting involved into this act to shape up their talent and to take a break from the seriousness as well as from the monotony of the scheduled work.

Photoshop contests, or commonly called as Photochop contests, is a game played online, in which the person using an internet forum or website sends an initial image generally a photograph and then asks other candidates to manipulate the images. Such editing of images can be done by using some commonly used image editing software, like Corel Photopaint, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, The GIMP etc. The players of such online Photoshop contests find it very interesting not only as their favorite pastime but also as a means of earning quick money.

In such Photoshop Contests, the users are generally asked to edit the image in a funny way, or if specifically mentioned then according to the given theme. Then, the users move away and manipulate the image as asked and send the resulting image back to the website. When versions of the image are submitted by all users at the website, they have to vote for the best image. The candidate whose resulting image gets the maximum number of votes wins that Photoshop contest.

In many such Photoshop contests, a major element of the humour involves the practice of clichés. Such incredible repetition of a joke from an image often results in the replacement of the initial joke by the clichés itself. Such pictures can also sometimes become major internet phenomena. Most commonly used clichés are as follows:

• Domo-kun

• A foreign tourist on the WTC with an airplane about to hit the building.

• Admiral Ackbar and his phrase “It’s a trap”.

• A picture of untidy James Brown.

• “All your base are belong to us”.

• An (often obscure) reference to goatse.cx.

• The famous O rly owl.

• A picture with the captions ‘X is watching you poop.”

• The usage of a photo which looks like a lolcat.

• The famous Preved Bear- from the customized John Lurie’s work of art, Bear Surprise, is to be found in videos, photographs and pictures

Nowadays, such Photoshop contests are able to find increasing candidates in a large no. of blogs. The Photoshop contests are gaining immense popularity, mainly due to the underlying humor or taunts which are generally associated with the edited images. They act as a stress buster for many and a source of income for some.



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CarBon asked:


I want tyo learn new techniques on photoshop, but it seems I cant find it. Is there any site offering the best beginner tutorials for photoshop?

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Adriana Bella asked:


A collage is a form of art that primarily consists of putting together different forms to create another whole new work of art. Traditionally this type of art assembled different textures, colors and many other types of items in making the new work of art. It is the same principle that is applied to photographs that make digital collages. Other uses of digital collages are to enhance photographs and bring out true character of a photograph. This is a lot of fun and simple once you know the method. All you will need are the tools for the process.

A computer, a digital camera and Adobe Photoshop software is all you need. Adobe Photoshop software will allow you to manipulate the images and present them in a different light. It is up to the artist to decide exactly what he needs and though there is no set way to do this, basic methods have to be adhered to.

To start with you can take a ton of photographs. It is always better to have more than less of these. Then you can choose the best out of the lot keeping in mind the theme of your collage. The pictures you choose should be related to the theme that you have in mind. Then it is time to build up the collage using as many methods as needed such as cutting out the background, adding new backgrounds and positioning photographs to create an aesthetically pleasing visual. This is a lot of fun as you are able to experiment with different settings and backgrounds to suit the collage.

The layout and all the visual effects that are used to make the collage will give you a chance to be creative and will help to bring out the essence of the new collage. Try out different options till you are perfectly satisfied. If a date is important to the collage you can insert it at this point. The pictures that will grace the final collage can be kept on hand to be used as needed. Each picture can be cropped or have the background cut out of it in order to make it more dramatic, action packed and visually interesting. The best thing with a collage is that it does not have to use pictures which are perfect in order to convey a certain feeling or event that the collage is trying to convey. Very often these imperfect pictures will add character to the collage.

The secret of a good digital collage is the way it is merged and the way different aspects of the theme are brought together. Adobe Photoshop allows us to use many different methods with a variety of tools to do this. By layering, merging, coloring, blurring, feathering and highlighting edges or softening them a wide range of visual effects can be produced. The visual impact that we can create is one of the most powerful communication methods known to man. Digital collages use this to communicate so much more than just an image for the onlooker. As an art in itself and as a way of communicating feelings and moods there is no better way than digital collages.



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Blake M asked:


is there even a difference? Because i cant notice a thing that is different between these two photoshop apps. i have photoshop v. 7.0 and photoshop elements v.6.0 and i don’t see what the difference is between them. Maybe you know of something that one program has that the other one doesn’t.

photoshop

Ash asked:


I want to download Elements 7 but it wont let me (see my other question) but under the download button there is another one saying that i might like the premiere thingy, it will let me download this?

And is it just another type of photoshop or something?

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Greg Patterson asked:


You might find it helpful to apply a masking on your photo to choose which areas you want to change and leave untouched before you apply any of these special effects. You can create a soft fade between the areas with effects added and those without.

This is called masking and can be done in a variety of ways. One method is called the ‘quick mask mode’. This is quick and easy to do and results are typically acceptable.

Quick masking:

Locate the button called ‘edit in quick mask mode’ in Adobe Photoshop. It is located near the bottom of the main tool bar and appears as a circle in a rectangle. There’s also a short-cut key: Q. Once in quick mask mode, you can select and deselect areas by painting them with white and black respectively, using the standard brush tool.

Zoom to 100 or 200 % for best precision. A soft-edged brush can be used to avoid hard edges. When done, exit the masking mode and go to ‘Select > Feather’ and set the feather radius somewhere in the range of 5-10 pixels. A nice feature is that you can set the opacity to anywhere between 0 and 100%, allowing you to apply the effect stronger or weaker in one part of the image than another.

Layer masking:

Somewhat more complicated, you can add a layer mask. This permits you to apply any effect gradually from any point in your photo. Follow these steps in Photoshop:

1. Select ‘Windows > Layers’.

2. Right click on your layer and choose ‘Duplicate layer’.

3. Click on the little icon in the bottom of the layer box called ‘Add layer mask’.

4. Choose the ‘Gradient tool’ on the main tool box.

5. Select a gradient style from the top ‘Options’ bar (linear, radial etc.).

6. Click on your image on the point you don’t want to change, and drag the mouse away to the point where you want the full effect to take place. The effect will be applied gradually more and more along this line you’ve now created.

7. Last, return to your original background layer and apply any effect you want. This will apply the effect in a soft, gradual way. Use opacity to turn the effect down to less than full strength if you want.

Lens-like effects:

Using the same layer masking explained from above, you can apply ‘Gaussian blur’ which will make the selected areas appear soft-focused, a bit like if you had used a large-aperture lens. With ‘Curves’ you can make your corners darker than the center, replicating the lens effect called vignetting.

In principle, vignetting is considered a lens dysfunction, but subjectively it can add an extra feeling to your photo. It will create a kind of frame that will have a ‘sucking’ effect, drawing more focus to the center of your photo. You can also just lower the contrast and/or color-saturation around your main subject, helping to divide it from the background clutter. Be creative with the many options you have available.



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