Photoshop Tutorials

OK, Here’s a list of sites with beau coup copyright free images, clipart and more. 100,000’s available for nada, nothing, zilch.

The Best Copyright-Free Photo Libraries: – DotGovWatch Exposing the good, the bad, and the ugly – A Blog Monitoring U.S. Federal, State, and Local Government Websites

Incredible Clip Art & Images

Archival Art presents classic victorian artwork

TP: Images of American Political History

Liam’s Pictures from Old Books

The Newgate Calendar – List of Illustrations

Sketch Archives 1841-1864

PicFindr: Free stock photo and image search

http://www.pdphoto.org/PictureHome.p…at=pdef&md=cid

Antique Clipart – Free Public Domain Clipart

and don’t forget the free images and clipart available from Microsoft office here.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx

150,000 total free for use.

There’s many more sites but these should keep you busy for awhile.

Here’s a great video video tutorial, which shows you how to fix underexposed photos – incredibly useful to know.

Just click the play button to watch…

Looking at how powerful Photoshop can be in terms of photo editing, it’s probably not important if you suck at taking photographs or being labeled an amateur photographer. As long as you pick up a couple of Photoshop photo editing skills, it will still impress those who see it.

Once you have mastered some techniques then you can make an action to replicate it at any time.

Photoshop actions are the best — they save time and make you more productive during post-processing. They can be used to speed up repetitive tasks, make quick work of time consuming edits, and give you a little creative inspiration.

So let’s get to it — open up Photoshop and follow along!

1. FIND YOUR ACTIONS PALETTE

Before you can do anything, you need to have the right tools in front of you. Make sure that your actions palette is activated and visible. It typically shows up as a tab on the history palette, but this may vary depending on your workspace.

If your actions palette is nowhere to be found, you can activate it under the “Window” menu. Once you do this, you should see a palette similar to the one in this photo. If you don’t have any actions defined yet, you’ll probably just see the “Default Actions” set.

Sets are a way to group actions as you see fit. To create a new set, pull down the palette menu and click “New Set…”. Give your new set a descriptive name. Also note that when you import and export actions, it’s the whole set rather than a single action.

2. CREATE A NEW ACTION

OK, you’ve got some sequence of events you want to record and you’re ready to start the action. As an example, I’ll walk through my “Flickr Horizontal” action that I mentioned in the teaser post.

Before we can begin recording the action, we’ll need to create the action. Pull down the action menu and click on “New Action…”. Give it a name and a keyboard shortcut if you want. Now we have a new empty action that we can record to.

3. BEGIN RECORDING THE ACTION

To begin recording the action, simply select your action in the palette and click on the “Record” icon in the lower action menu or select “Start Recording” from the pull-down menu. Once you click this button, every event you perform will be recorded. This includes menu items, adjustments, layer selections, and any of the Photoshop tools.

There’s no need to hurry through your sequence of events, because the action is not time based. If you’re not doing something to the image, it won’t be recorded. So take your time and get it right.

4. DO YOUR STUFF

Now do whatever it is that you wanted to do. Perform all the tasks, clicks, option settings, and image adjustments that you want included in your action.

If you mess something up or if you accidentally skip a step — don’t worry. After recording the action you can go back and edit the steps, add steps, and re-record steps.

5. COMPLETE THE ACTION

So once you’re done with the sequence, its time to stop the action. Just press the “Stop” button at the bottom of the action palette and Photoshop will stop recording.

For some actions, this is the end of the road. But many of my actions are set to require input from the user at specific points along the way.

6. TEST AND REFINE

I usually don’t get my actions right the first time around unless they’re extremely simple. I find that if I run a few different Photoshop files through the action, I usually uncover some mistakes or find the need to insert additional steps to ensure the action runs smoothly. If you find a mistake with one of your steps, just select that step and “Record Again” (via the pull-down menu). Or if you want to re-order some steps, just drag them up or down the list until they land where you want them.

I’ve also noted a few quirks about running actions, such as error messages that can occur if something is not possible to complete. Or the fact that working with multiple files, renaming layers, and selecting layers are cumbersome tasks with actions because Photoshop is looking for specific file names or layer names each time the action is run.

For complex actions, what you’ll end up with are a few extra steps that ensure a robust action that can handle many different files. But hey, it’s an action — who cares?

IDEAS FOR ACTIONS

So… I think that covers the basics of how to create an action in Photoshop. If I missed something or if I didn’t explain something well enough, let me know and we can follow-up in the comments.

These action things are great, but what can you do with them? It can be hard to think of those repetitive tasks when you’re not performing them, so I’ll share a few of my action needs. I would say that my actions are grouped into three main categories: administrative tasks, specific tasks, and creative boosts. Here are a few of the actions in my arsenal.

ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS

These are things that will drive you nuts because they’re no fun at all. Like every time you want to save a JPEG or TIFF file. Or every time you want to downsize for Flickr or email. I use actions to speed up the process and prevent me from making mistakes.

* Resizing and saving for specific destinations
* Basic adjustment layer setups
* Converting color space and bit depth

SPECIFIC TASKS

Actions are good for little items that consist of a few steps. By using an action, it not only bypasses the need to click on menus or type keyboard shortcuts, but it also allows you to set default values that you commonly use.

So all you Photoshop gurus out there, pipe up and give us more examples of what can be done with these things. What are some of your most useful actions that you couldn’t live without?

This tutorial shows a quick way to take your normal, boring product shot and make it look more professional and elegant. This isn’t a new trick, but it’s a really quick process with Photoshop.

Open your image. I started with this photo of a banana. I masked out the banana and slightly rotated it.

Behind my banana layer, I added a Gradient Adjustment Layer. Adjust the colors to something yellowish, or whatever color you want, and fading to black.

Set the Gradient Adjustment Layer to Style: Radial. I increased the scale to fit my banana better.

Make a rectangular selection on the lower 1/3 of your image. Add a new Solid Color Adjustment Layer under the banana layer and above the Gradient layer. Fill it with black.

Select your banana layer and press [Ctrl + J] to duplicate it. Select your lower, original banana layer and press [Ctrl + T] to bring up the free-transform. Right-click on your bounding box, and choose “Flip Vertical”.

Drag your new, flipped layer down, so that the bottom of the top layer, matches the top of the bottom layer. Confused? Picture:

Click on the Add Layer Mask button on your Layers Palette or go [Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All]. Select the Gradient Fill Tool [G] and select your default colors [D]. With your Layer Mask selected, drag your Gradient from top to bottom until you get a nice reflective effect.

And that’s pretty much it. I explained it out in this tutorial, but it’s a few quick steps for a nice effect.

Brusheezy is a new site offering large collection of free photoshop brushes.

Currently there are a total of 148 free brush sets under 15 categories such as abstract, nature, space, splatters etc.

What I like about the site is that users can comment on the brushes and contribute their own brush sets.

There is also a patterns section at the site however it currently has only 6 patterns for download. Nonetheless it is a very useful resource for all Photoshop users.

Photoshop Brush (4 in set)
Added: Oct 09, 2008
Category: Shapes
Photoshop Version: CS
Click here to download.

It’s quiet remarkable how accessible graphic design has become for people. Whether it’s designing party invitations, promoting a show, or advertising for a garage sale – it is now easier than ever to create remarkably good looking work through the power of your computer. In previous times, a person would have to go to school to learn the tricks of the design trade. However, all that you need now is a good graphics program and an Internet connection and you will find all of the information that you need.

Unreal Brushes v.4
by Edelihu
Photoshop Brush (9 in set)
Added: Sep 29, 2008
Category: Abstract & Fractal
Photoshop Version: CS3
Click to download

What are photoshop brushes?

Whether you are an expert at Adobe Photoshop or are just fooling around on it as a beginner, every person has the same goal – to create an interesting design that you will like and can show your friends. One of the most effective ways to add some flourish to your photoshop designs is by using a wide array of brushes. Photoshop brushes are essentially tools that can be used in the brush palette of adobe photoshop. Each photoshop brush has a specific design or an effect that can liven up the most drab project. From grunge effects to techno swirls to a soft cloud effect to Polaroid framing styles, you can obtain all of these different looks with the right photoshop brush.

Ask any graphic designer about what tool they use the most in adobe photoshop and they will immediately tell you – brushes. With a bit of minor tweaking, you are able to create some incredible effects and the best part is that you can save them as a photoshop brush. Photoshop Brushes have been instrumental in the illustration of websites, wallpapers, and graphics in general. They are a fantastic tool for implanting your own style on a design. From retro text styles like a typewriter font to vintage wear and tear styles to futuristic fonts, you will be able to add the extra flourish that will make your designs stand out.

One of the biggest attractions of using photoshop brushes are that they allow designers to get over their problem of being unable to draw well. Photoshop brushes work by determining the shape of something that you paint when you are utilizing the paint brush tool in adobe photoshop. You are able to add some nice patterns with photoshop brushes for your design or you are able to add some extra touches to a more comprehensive photoshop brush. They are also great because they are so diverse. When you are adding some photoshop brushes to your design, you are able to set the color of the photoshop brush by picking the color of the paint that you want to use. When they are create with an interesting size and shape, photoshop brushes can be dynamic to use in creating a collage.

In addition to adding some extra cool to a design, photoshop brushes are excellent artistic tools. With photoshop brushes that have a mosaic effect or a soft cloud style, you will be able to add a bit of extra emotional depth to your style. We live in a visual world and people are bombarded with television and advertisements on a daily basis. It is more important than ever to create stylish designs that will get your message out there instantly. Find out more about how you can add this fantastic tool to your design arsenal.

404 Pages are a great place to highlight your tallent. Leats face it most people get there by mistake so why not entertain them.

Pick of the month:

This is not a working example, since the site isn’t using the page as a working 404 error page. Nevertheless it’s quite funny: the characters are talking, and as you might suggest, they are talking about 404 errors! Click to see in Action.

This person is really sorry you found their 404 page. See it here

Renet-web.met offers recent posts and a search box.

A couple of other interesting ideas.

Have fun with your 404 pages

Hi Guys,

I’ve been going over the feedback and there were requests for more video tutorials for Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Photoshop Elements, etc.. So I’ve added a new section to this blog called “Tutorials”. I’ll be adding all kinds of videos to this section on everything design related. Some will be created by me, and some by other designers.

I have some for you today. I didn’t create these myself, but I did have to do some “digging” to find quality tutorials online. Here is a first batch for you, enjoy….

I have been teaching some of my students Photoshop in a live web conferencing system so thought I would share it.

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