Sandee Lembke asked:


For an easy-to-implement web page effect, add a Web Page Shadow all the way around your webpages using the Photoshop Slice Tool and HTML coding. Doing so not only adds visual interest but also gives your website a professional look. Read these step by step instructions or watch a video tutorial and follow along with a PDF supplement.

High Level Process:

Create 2 blank documents in Photoshop, one smaller than the other On the smaller one, add a Photoshop drop shadow all the way around image Drag the smaller document on top of the larger one to create one flattened image Use the Photoshop Slice Tool to slice the image into 3 smaller images and upload as 3 separate gifs Create a table in your HTML document within the body to hold gifs and content

Step By Step:

Create the larger of two documents in Photoshop (or another image editor). Width is the same as your website template (ex. 950 pixels). Height does not matter but should be big enough to easily use Photoshop Slice Tool (ex. 250 pixels). Color should be the same as your website body. Create the smaller of two documents in Photoshop. Width should be smaller than the larger document (ex. 800 pixels). Height should be smaller than the larger document (ex. 100 pixels). Color should be the same as your content area. Add a Photoshop Drop Shadow to the smaller document. In the Layers Palette, double click on the word “Background” and change it to any other name. This will free up functionality and allow you to easily add a drop shadow. Open the Layers Style dialog box, click on “Drop Shadow” and set the variables as follows: Opacity 75% Angle -90 degrees Distance 0 px Spread 35% Size 35 px Color #7B7979 (gray shadow) Drag the smaller document on top of the larger document to create one image. Using the examples above, this image will be 950 pixels wide by 250 pixels high with the smaller, shadowed image embedded on top of it. Slice the document into 3 smaller images horizontally. Grab the Photoshop Slice Tool from the Tool Palette. In the top toolbar, set the Style to “Fixed Size” to ensure exact proportions. Using the 950px X 250px example, input width and height as follows: Top slice equals 950px X 100px Middle slice equals 950px X 50px Bottom slice equals 950px X 100px Now you have one document sliced horizontally into 3 smaller images. The next step is to “Save For Web” and upload each image as a separate gif. In the “Save For Web” dialog box, save each slice separately by clicking on the slice and naming it. Upload the 3 gif images as usual. Create a table in the body section of your HTML document to hold the shadow gif images and your content. The first row in your table contains the top shadow gif, the middle row contains your middle shadow gif and content and the last row in your table contains the bottom shadow gif.

Creating a web page shadow using the Photoshop Slice Tool and HTML coding ensures that you do not end up with a jagged, unprofessional looking shadow. If you use this process, you will undoubtedly achieve the results you are looking for.



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Xanerarticle asked:


Why are people so motivated to learn Photoshop?

Photoshop is an art to put it in the simplest form. It is a way for an artist to express him or herself as it can allow for the creation of an image which could never really happen or take place. Photoshop is a difficult program to learn. A novice user cannot just sit down and instantly be able to master the program in one night and create some stunning images. It takes years of practice and honing of skills in order to create a fantastic Photoshop image.

One reason to learn Photoshop is to simply express yourself. You may want to be an artist but you may not be able to sit there or want to sit there and paint on a canvas. Photoshop is the canvas of the future as it allows the freedom to do virtually anything you want with an image as long as you have the skills to pull it off and make it pure quality.

It is a form of expression because it allows a user to create an image any way they want and express it any way they want and then show it off to the world in a very easy and efficient way as that image can then be used on various mediums. A Photoshop user will create a style of his or her own and then use it whenever they please and with all of the options that the program offers, there truly are no limits to what can be done.

Besides the form of expression Photoshop is also something which can make you a great deal of money in the future. Photoshop is a skill which not very many people have and one which can take a long time to master. So if you have this skill and you are going for a job that requires an artistic background of sorts then knowing Photoshop can put you leaps and bounds above the competition.

An example of this could be if you are working for a marketing firm of sorts and you need to create something for an advertising campaign. The person with the skills in something like Photoshop would be able to create something far more complex and professional-looking compared to someone who may be a novice at using Paint or another program.

Photoshop can help in many ways as it can act as a form of expression, help get jobs, and even make you money in contests and such as it does on sites like this. If you have the skills you can put them to work and add some extra cash in your pocket while at the same time earning the respect of the Photoshop community and others who will look up to you and aspire to learn the technique and mastery which you have acquired.



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David Peters asked:


toshop is considered to be one of the best and the most popular photo editing software programs available in the market today. If you are a professional or an amateur photographer, you will definitely want to get the latest version of this software.

Why?

Well, first of all, Adobe Photoshop provides all the tools you need to enhance, edit, and alter photographs. The creative capabilities that this software gives to its user are virtually unlimited and you will have a lot of fun using the tools that Adobe Photoshop provides.

In addition to that, even if you took bad pictures, you will be able to make it look professional with Adobe Photoshop. So, what are the aesthetic corrective tools that you can use in Adobe Photoshop for your photography hobby?

The first and the most common problem that most photographers have is the red eye phenomenon. This particular phenomenon happens because of the wide open pupil of the subject reflecting light back to the lenses of the camera. Although some digital cameras have flash settings to eliminate the occurrences of the red eye phenomenon, it will still happen even if you are using the latest professional grade SLR digital camera. Adobe Photoshop has red eye tool that will be able to identify red eye in a photograph and completely eliminate its appearance.

Adobe Photoshop will be able to remove all red eyes even those of your pet dog or cat.

Adobe Photoshop will also be able to let you create clearer and brighter photos. You need to remember that Adobe Photoshop is a software program meant for cleaning up an image. If you took a picture in a bad lighting condition, you will be able to improve its appearance with Adobe Photoshop. With Adobe Photoshop, you will be able to increase or decrease contrast, brightness, huge, and even color intensity. Even if the photo you are working on was taken on a dark environment, you will be able to make it look as if it was taken on the best possible light condition.

It is also possible to remove objects in a particular photograph. For example, if your vacation group pictures were ruined by a complete stranger in the background, you can have them removed. You can use the clone tool to preserve the texture of the image and also on the area where you removed the object. For close up headshots or portraits, you can edit imperfections on the face.

For sure, you will hear complaints about their own close up pictures. Some will say that they look so old with the wrinkles on their face; some will say that they look too pale; some will even say that they look too fat or thin in the picture, and you will even hear some people complain about their acne marks and pimples. You can edit all these things according to the preferences of the people complaining about their own picture.

With Adobe Photoshop, you can make the face look fuller or thinner, remove wrinkles to make the subject look younger, get rid of unwanted acne marks and pimples, make pale faces look healthier, and it can even make the lips fuller or redder as well as give you the possibility to shave off the eyebrows.

These are just some of the fun things that you can do with Adobe Photoshop. As you can see, there are quite a lot of possibilities that you can do with Adobe Photoshop when it comes to image editing. So, as a photographer, you will definitely need Adobe Photoshop. With the tools provided, you will be able to make your work look clean and professional.

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Mary Markell asked:


If you use Photoshop then you must be aware of its fine printing capabilities. People create images with Photoshop mostly for web design or printing purposes. Let’s discuss how you can print an image through the Photoshop interface the right way.

When printing through Photoshop there’s one thing you need to be aware of, the dots per inch (dpi). This refers to how many dots per inch of paper, your printer can print. If you want a clearer image then you want more dots per inch. The more dots a printer can print in an inch of paper the better the quality. Printers are clarified according to the dots per inch they print. A printer which prints more dots per inch is generally better and more expensive.

The most commonly used dpi value for image printing is 300 dpi. Meaning that the printer will print 300 dots per inch of paper. That is, if your printer can actually print in that resolution which is very likely, unless you own a really old printer.

You can set the dpi of an image through the Photoshop menu:

Image > Image Size.. > Resolution

In the Resolution input box enter the value you want for your image. Your version of Photoshop might not mention dots per inch but pixels per inch, which is the same thing.

Now let’s talk about the quality of ink for your image. This depends on your printer type. Inkjet printers for example can be cheap and they use jets of ink that they spray on paper. Ink quality is medium. Dye printers are more expensive than Inkjet printers and use a system to melt dots of dye that can generate over 16 million of colors. Ink quality is medium to high. Laser printers are very popular these days and they print in good quality. Ink quality is high. Last but not least there are the Thermal Wax printers that use blocks of wax that melt on the paper.

Now let’s say you want to print an image through Photoshop. Before doing anything else go to:

File > Print with Preview

A dialog opens. Through that dialog you can set all kinds of properties for your image. For example you can define the position of the image on the piece of paper. You can specify the space you want to be left blank from top or bottom or you can let Photoshop center the image by ticking the “Center Image” check box.

Then you can define the scale of the image, it’s height and width. I use the “Scale to Fit Media” check box a lot, since it lets Photoshop automatically adjust the printable size of the image.

Depending on your image you might want to print on portrait or landscape. You can change that through the “Page Setup…” button on the right of the dialog. A new dialog will appear that also allows you to choose the type and the size of paper you will use for printing.

Well, that’s about it. All you have to do now is click the “Print…” button. Depending on your printer, a dialog will appear that will let you customize printer properties. For example you might want to print three copies of the image or tell the printer to use more or less ink. It’s really easy to print images through Photoshop. I use this software all the time mostly for the “Scale to Fit Media” check box I mentioned above.



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J N asked:


I am working in Photoshop CS3 and would like to edit a photograph of mine to make it look like a Japanese woodblock print. This would probably involve creating a dark outline around the objects, and flattening planes to make them look more 2D. I’m also interested in trying to replicate the colours. Thanks!

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theinterwebs asked:


I’m trying to think of a project I can do with Photoshop. I’m a novice at using Photoshop, but what are some things I can do with it that aren’t too hard, but aren’t too easy either?

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Shaun Pearce asked:


Most people don’t use Photoshop to its fullest capabilities. Here are just ten uses to which you could put this highly versatile software.

1. Restoring Old Photographs. Have a look through that old family photo album – the really old one from up in Grandma’s attic. Inside there are probably a few photos from way back when that haven’t stood the test of time so well. They’ve got cracks and tears that really spoil their appearance. Scan them into Photoshop, and then set to work with the Clone Stamp, Healing Brush, and Patch tools. The Healing Brush in particular is a great tool for this purpose as it samples data from one part of the picture and blends it in with what’s already there.

2. Correcting Mistakes. We’ve all done it: Had an attack of “finger over the lens syndrome,” or got too close with the flash, so our subjects suffer from “red eye” and look like extras from a horror movie. Use the crop tool to salvage something usable from your obscured photo, and the enlarge wizard to blow it up to a reasonable size. For “red eye” and “pet eye,” use the eyedropper tool to sample color from around the iris, and a brush to paint away the red.

3. Adding Graphics to Videos. It’s a little known fact, but many domestic and professional nonlinear editing systems (especially the Mac based ones like Avid or Final Cut) enable you to import Photoshop .psd files directly into the timeline.

4. Creating Text Effects for Print and Web. There’s an almost unlimited amount of things you can do with text in Photoshop. Use the Type Mask Tools to create picture filled text, then upload the results to your web page – or print them out for a one of a kind T-shirt.

5. Turning a Photo Into a Work of Art. Everyone likes to have nice things to look at. Most of us like to have pictures on the wall, and something that looks different from what other people have on their walls is a definite plus. Unless you’re blessed with artistic talent, though, this can be very expensive – until now. Use one of Photoshop’s many Artistic or Brush Stroke filters to turn your photos into “new masters,” then print them out on quality art paper.

6. Designing Web Banners and Buttons. Photoshop comes with a predefined web banner sized canvas. Photoshop’s sister application, Image Ready, comes with several – and lots of tools for animating text and pictures. You can also create interactive buttons that enhance a web browsing experience.

7. Adding Text to Photographs. Impress your boss by putting the company name on the side of an airliner, building, or racing car. Use the Move Tool to skew the text to fit the contours of the picture, adjust the opacity a little, and hey presto! The text will look like it’s always been part of the photo.

8. Combining Pictures, Text, and Graphics to Make Covers for Books, Reports and CDs. Photoshop contains many of the image manipulation capabilities of high-end DTP applications that cost thousands. Use the “Layer via Cut” command to make your title text go behind part of the picture – just like on the cover of “Rolling Stone.”

9. Designing Web Pages. Did you know that Photoshop and Image Ready can turn your photograph or artwork into a web page? Use the slice tool to cut your work into easily downloadable pieces, then the rollover function to embed website URLs.

10. Combining Pictures to Make the Impossible Possible. Come on! You didn’t seriously think that Michael Moore and President George W. Bush really stood hand in hand on the White House lawn for the Fahrenheit 9/11 poster, did you? I don’t know for certain that they used Photoshop to fake that picture, but they certainly could have done. With Photoshop you can remove the background from one picture, take some elements from another, and combine them with the background from a third to create a picture that could never have been taken for real. Who says the camera can’t lie!

 



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David Peters asked:


ooking for a way to improve how you take your pictures? Even if you have that ultra expensive SLR camera, you just can\’t seem to do what the professional photographers do best, which is to take professional looking photographs. You have all the latest photography accessories and still you can\’t take high quality pictures. You need to remember that before professionals develop the photos they take, they first edit it using a photo editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop basics.

Today, Adobe Photoshop basics is one of the most popular photo editing software programs available today. It is very easy to use and it also provides all the necessary tools you need in order to edit your digital photos.

For example, if you want to make someone look a little bit younger, you can simply edit out the wrinkles and age spots using the smudge tool in the Adobe Photoshop basics. The liquefy gallery in Adobe Photoshop basics also has tools that will make someone fat look thinner and vice versa. This is only a sample of what this photo editing software can do.

In fact, even if you took pictures in bad lighting condition, you can easily edit the photo using Adobe Photoshop basics and make it look like as if it was taken with a very good lighting condition. As you can see, this is usually what professional photographers do. They are able to get the best lighting conditions because they make it so by using Adobe Photoshop basics.

There are quite a lot of tools that you can use in Adobe Photoshop basics. You can paste objects from another picture in to another picture. For example, if you want to be beside a celebrity, you can do it with Adobe Photoshop basics. By adjusting the lighting effects as well as doing a bit of erasing and editing, you can make it look like it was real.

In fact, you can even change the clothes of someone with Adobe Photoshop basics. It may require a bit of work, but it will produce great results. These are just some of the few things that you can do with Adobe Photoshop basics. There are so many effects that you can try with this software.

Another great effect is by turning old black and white photographs new again. If you have a scanner, you can scan the old black and white photographs and repair or restore it. In fact, some professional photographers can even make the black and white photographs in to colored photographs by just using this photo editing software.

There are so many possibilities that you can do with Adobe Photoshop basics. Although it may be hard to master especially when you are just a beginner in the world of photo editing, you will see that with experience, you will be able to get the hang of it and start converting your amateur looking photographs in to professional looking ones.

With the tools that Adobe Photoshop basics needs, you can be sure that any pictures you take will be able to become something magical. Whether you have a problem with the red eye phenomenon, or the bad lighting conditions, you can be sure that Adobe Photoshop will be there to rescue you.

So, the next time you take pictures with your SLR camera and you still can\’t get it right, just remember that with Adobe Photoshop basics, you can get everything right. Get this free report and discover our totally unique step-by-step video training system, designed to make any newbie user completely competent with the basics of any Adobe Photoshop Software in record time.

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Buela asked:


I’m trying to fiddle around with Photoshop a bit, and I’d like to know some of your tips and tricks and favorite effects for making nice portraits. What are your go-to techniques?

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David Peters asked:


er came across the software called Adobe Photoshop, you may wonder who this software is for. You have to consider that this is a very expensive software program and you just don\’t buy something very expensive if you can\’t even use it

First of all, Adobe Photoshop is a software program that is perfect for professional graphic artists as well as for professional photographers. However, it is also a great software program for people who love photography and imagery. This particular software is filled with powerful imaging tools that will be able to allow the user to do basic and advanced image manipulation.

The great thing about Adobe Photoshop is that it does all these things with great results. You won\’t even know which photo was edited and which one was not. That\’s how Adobe Photoshop provides quality image editing.

If you are the type of person who has to deal with images, graphics, or photos, such as a web designer, poster designer, advertising, desktop publishing, and other graphic works, the Adobe Photoshop is the perfect software for you.

Today, the latest version of the Adobe Photoshop is the Photoshop CS4. Released last September 2008, this particular version has a lot of advanced tools that will be able to let you enhance and manipulate images.

So, what are the key features that this particular version of Adobe Photoshop can do?

Well, there are basically a lot of new things that you can do with Adobe Photoshop CS4. For example, with this software you will be able to paint directly on 3D graphics, wrap 2D images to 3D objects, give depth to text and layers, provide better print quality output with the latest ray-tracing providing engine, supports 3D formats, fluid rotation of the canvas, convert gradient maps to 3D objects, and it is also 64 bit compatible.

As you can see, there are quite a lot of great features that the new Adobe Photoshop CS4 can offer. If you are a professional who deals with a lot of graphics and images, then you will simply love Adobe Photoshop. Whether you are a professional photographer or a professional web designer, the Adobe Photoshop CS4 will be able to provide you with a lot of help.

Another great thing about Adobe Photoshop is that it works with other Adobe products. If you have Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and even the Adobe ImageReady software installed in your computer, you will see that the Adobe Photoshop CS4 will be able to work with the mentioned software.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 is one of the most powerful imagery and graphics software today. With this, you can be sure that your work as a photographer, a poster maker, advertiser, or as a web designer will be easier.

This software is full of great features that will be able to let you manipulate and edit images easily. So, the next time you are looking for a great software program that will be able to help you with images and graphics then Adobe Photoshop CS4 is for you.

With Adobe Photoshop CS4, you will see that editing images and enhancing them will be as easy as a click of the mouse. This is what Adobe Photoshop is all about. If your profession requires you to edit and enhance images, then Adobe Photoshop CS4 is definitely the software for you.

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