Helpful Hints for Creating Eye-Popping Collages

May 18th, 2007 by Don

Collage is an art form that uses multiple photos, drawn and painted images, and other objects to make a piece of art. Photoshop can be used to give a new twist to the old art form of collage. Creating a collage using Photoshop is fun and simple, because all you need to make the digital collage are photos and the desire to experiment. Creating a collage using Photoshop is simple, but all users can use a few tips to create an eye-catching piece of art.

The first aspect of creating any piece of art is determining a theme for the piece. When creating a collage, it’s a good idea to start with a photo of a person or an object. Users will find the most enjoyment in working with images they like and will enjoy working with. Photos of family members or vacation photos are usually the best choice when creating a collage. If you’re using one object from a photo, it helps if the object has clean edges that allow you to cut the object from the photo without leaving gaps that are intrusive to the rest of the photo. The main photo used for the collage will provide the overall theme for the collage. The rest of photos for the collage should then mimic the theme established by the main photo. For example, if you’re using a farm theme, you might consider using images of farm animals, barns, and crop fields.

It’s best to manage your project files, by creating a folder and copying all of the photos into it. Another good idea would be to assemble more photos than actually needed, so that you will be able to compare photos and choose the most suitable photos for the collage. Creating a background is essential when creating a collage in Photoshop. Users can create backgrounds using various techniques. The first technique is using an enlarged photo to fill the space. If your image is too small, it may be best to paste it multiple times into multiple layers and overlap them to fill the space. A soft or textured brush will erase any hard edges and blend the layers.

The next step in creating a collage is assembling the images. The first step to assembling the images begins by cutting the main image from its background by selecting around the subject using a suitable selection tool. Then, feather the selection by using, Select> Feather and invert the selection using Select> Inverse, and press Delete to remove it. Once the subject of the collage is isolated, drag its layer and drop it into the working image, so that it appears as a new layer. When using portraits that are cut off at the neck, it is best to anchor them in the image, particularly at the bottom corner for the best effect. Once the main subject is in place, drag and drop the layers of the other images. Then arrange objects in layers so that the layers in front of the image are the highest layers in the Layers palette.

Making the main image the largest image in the collage will make the collage attention grabbing and eye-popping. Using repeated elements, such as colors and shapes will unite the collage and give it a more polished look, which is more pleasing to the eye. It is also a good idea to place an imaginary Tic-Tac-Toe grid over the image and align the objects of interest along the lines or place them where the lines intersect points. Placing objects in this way is more visually interesting, than placing them in the center of the image. Also placing objects over the edge of the image rather than inside of its boundaries will create a more interesting collage.



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Add Some Photoshop Pizzazz - Create Pop Art!

May 18th, 2007 by Don

If you think all Photoshop is good for is airbrushing imperfections off of vain celebrities or laying out magazines, think again. Photoshop can do just about everything, including helping everyone tap into his or her inner Roy Lichtenstein. Have fun with your Photoshop program and create some pop art that would rival the best of Andy Warhol.

Before you get started on creating your Photoshop pop art, you will need to choose a line art image to work with. The image can be simple or complex - the choice depends on how much time you want to put into the project and how comfortable you are with the program. Your image should be saved in RGB file format. If it is not, open it in Photoshop and then click “mode” and “RGB color.” These steps will convert the image and make it ready for your adaptations.

Now that you have selected your image, it is time to start filling it with color. To get started, click on the “create a new layer” in the layer palette. Then, turn on the paint box tool and click the “all layers” box. Next select “set foreground color.” From the color swatches that appear, choose the first color you want to work with. Once you have selected your color, click the areas of the image you want to “paint” that color, using the paint box too. To add more colors, repeat these steps until your image is colored in the way you want it to be. Each color should be on its own layer, so you can remove it if so choose. Title each layer the name of the color used so you can find it easily.

The look of pixilation, or dots, within an image is characteristic of pop art, so now you want to add these dots to you image. To do this, first you must decide which colors of your image you want to appear “dotted.” Open the layer palette and select “create a new layer.” Now, open the first color you want to replace with dots. Make a copy of the layer without dots by dragging it onto the layer palette, and then close it. Re-open the color layer, and the click “filter.” Under filter, click “pixelate” and then “halftone”. When the “color halftone” box appears, you will need to adjust the radius. You can choose any number between 4 and 127; the larger the number you choose, the larger you dots will be. Repeat this step until you have created dots in all of the areas of the image you want to. If you want to change the appearance of some the dots in your image, you will need to revert to the saved copy of your color layer from before you added dots. With the saved layer open, open the layer palette and open the blending modes. First try using the “screen” blending mode. If this does not help you achieve your desired results, you will need to experiment with some of the other blending modes in the layer palette, like Hard Light, Soft Light, and Color Burn, until you get the image you want. If you are worried about making damaging changes, in which you image is changed for good and cannot be retrieved, save a copy of the image at the point of the last change you were happy with, so you can revert back to it if need be.

That’s it! Now you should have a pop art image that would do any pop art master proud and is ready to be used in print or as an online graphic.



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Color your World with the Functions on Photoshop

May 10th, 2007 by Don

The functions on Photoshop can be used to enhance photos and create original images. Photoshop offers a full assortment painting, drawing and retouching tools to help modify photos. The functions of Photoshop include an advanced File Browser, Customized workspace, History Palette and Filter Gallery. The File Browser allows users to quickly preview, tag and sort images. Users may also search and edit metadata and keywords, and give the convenience of automatically sharing batches of files. The Customized workspace allow users to work the best for them by saving personalized workspace and tool settings, and creating customized keyboard shortcuts.

The History Palette allows users to experiment freely with the Photoshop software, because the History Palette gives users the freedom to undo and redo multiple steps. The Filter Gallery allows users to browse the Photoshop filters, which allows users to preview stacked effects. Layers are another function on Photoshop, which allows users to achieve the best results. Users can achieve the best results by compositing images, text and effects on the layers you control by grouping into sets, color coding, and locking. The Layer Comps function allows users to create design variations efficiently, by saving different combinations of layers within the same file as Layer Comps. You can also add attention-grabbing typography by placing text on paths or within shapes. Using the Text on Path allows the user to edit the text at any time.

The artistic brushes of the Photoshop software allow you to simulate traditional fine-art techniques by creating dry and wet brush effects. The brushes can even be used to add special effects such as grass and leaves. Photoshop also offers more than 95 special effects filters available to add more exciting content to your creations. You may also preview and apply more than one filter at a time. The Color Replacement Tool allows users to replace colors in their photos, improve colors and remove red-eye. Users can use this tool to improve contrast and dynamic range of their images. The Healing Brush tool removes dust, scratches, blemishes, wrinkles and other flaws from images. Users may also use functions to blend layers.

First select the part that you want to keep, and then choose a feather of about 10 for the blending effect. Once the selection is made, invert the selection and delete what you don’t want. If you want to blend from one image to another within a collage, you should make sure that the images being blended are on different layers. Next, select the layer you want to fade, and then select the mask tool button on that layer. Then choose the gradient tool; from black to white in normal mode and set at on opacity 100%. Lastly, select the edge of the faded part of the image and draw a gradient tool line across the part that you want fade.

Sampling is a part of the Color Replacement Tool, which determines where the user will get their sample to replace from. The “Background Swatch,” “Continuous” and “Once” are the options available from the Sampling menu. The continuous option will replace whatever the user is dragging on. The once option will only replace the first color the user clicks on. If you use the background swatch option, it will only change the colors of the parts of the image that is the same color as the selected background color. Limits are another part of the Color Replacement Tool that determines where your color stops replacing. The options of the Limits menu are “Contiguous,” “Discontinuous” and “Find Edges.” Tolerance is the aspect that determines how much shade difference the color being changed can tolerate. Anti-Aliasing gives the users’ images smooth edges, and the Mode setting determines the Painting Mode, which are Hue, Color, Luminosity and Saturation.



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Vector versus Bitmap Graphics - What’s The Difference?

May 4th, 2007 by Don

Understanding the difference between vector and bitmap graphics is something that often confuses professional designers and lay people alike. Familiarizing yourself with the differences, however, is crucial to completing the best work you can, because each graphic type has specific applications that it performs best, and going for the wrong graphic type will almost certainly compromise the quality of your work.

The first misconception to clear up is that the difference in these graphic types lies in the file format in which they are produced and saved. This idea is incorrect. For example, a bitmap image does not always have to be saved as a .jpg file. The difference between vectors and bitmaps is much deeper than this.

Bitmap graphics are the images you are most likely to work with and come across on a daily basis. It is the most popular graphic format out there; almost every picture your see on the Internet is a bitmap image. Bitmap images are made up of a collection of pixels, each with its own specific color formulation. These pixels, when grouped together, make up an image. The naked eye does not see the individual pixels, but rather sees the whole image that the pixels create. Bitmap images are popular for use because they can be reproduced almost exactly, with very little quality loss. They almost work like a formula or an equation, which simply tells the program which color to put where. You can save a file like that any number of times, and still it will reproduce exactly, because it is following the same formula. Bitmap images can easily be made smaller as well, without quality loss, because as long as there are still enough pixels present to create the image, then the image appears as clearly as it did at the original size.

A problem with bitmaps is that though they can be made smaller, it is difficult to make them larger. The original image has a finite number of pixels, and when the image is enlarged, the image does not have enough pixels to accommodate the new size. The image will then become blurry.

Vector files are completely different. Rather than being made up of pixels, vectors are made up of lines and points. These lines and points compose an outline of an object, which can then be filled with color and text. When a vector file is saved and re-opened, the information it communicated to the computer tells the computer how it should be drawn - for instance, in what order the lines should go and which points connect - instead of what the end product should look like. For this reason, vector files can be made into any size without quality loss - the computer simply follows the same directions on a larger or smaller scale. This is also the con to using vector images, though. Because they are just lines and points, they can only be used for simple, linear images. They cannot capture the nuances of complex colors and images.

Bitmaps and vectors each have their own ideal applications. Bitmaps are the best choice when it comes to reproducing photographs or images that need to feel real and life like, with plenty of detail and color. Vectors are best for images that need to be upsized and downsized repeatedly, and that you want to be able to change the colors in at will, like logos. Using the right graphic type for the right job will ensure you get the best results, every time you do a job.



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