Summertime is in full swing with lots going on. I am supposed to be packing for our family trip to South Padre Island, TX, but Hurrican Alex decided to drop in and foil our plans. It’s ok though because the next few weeks will be packed with other fun things in the Duke household.
*For a printable version of this tutorial click Control and + Makes an image larger
Control and – Makes an image smaller
The Patch tool is my favorite for blemishes. Click on the tool, circle the blemish, drag it to a similar toned spot (un-blemish nearby) and BAM it becomes like its’ neighbor.
The Clone tool, you often have to mess with the opacity to get what you want. I used this for a while, but don’t use it as much since the patch tool has come into my life.
The Eyedropper, if you see a color you like on an image, use the eyedropper to “grab” that color and you can make text that same color or background for a card.
Lasso is for a head swap (went into detail in an earlier post).
Pencil tool drew all the lines in the diagram above.To lighten (dodge) or darken (burn–think about how a fire is dark) an image with the dodge/burn tool or Saturate
] makes your brush size larger
[ makes your brush size smaller
Control+U= Hue/Saturation/Lightness adjuster (I mostly just bump the saturation)
Control+B=Color Balanace (I often adjust in RAW, but sometimes if an image is too blue or too red, will adjust here)
Control+L=Levels adjuster. Lightens or darkens and image with the slider.
WINNER of the SELF PORTRAIT is Vanessa! (Click on her name and check out her image). I loved how she incorporated a family goal with her children of reading, and also using the merging technique taught last week. Congrats, Vanessa! Email me with your address and landscape image of choice.
Photography Questions I haven’t covered yet??? Please submit more!
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Misty says
These are wonderful tips! First, I need a better camera!!! I have been browsing through your blog, and I have really enjoyed looking at all the creative ideas! I am your newest follower. :)
http://www.misty-littlemonkeys.blogspot.com
Thank you for all of your help and insight. You have been a HUGE help to me.
Thanks. I'm going to try these out. I TOTALLY don't know what I'm doing in photoshop :)
You're awesome! I would love a post on how to make eyes look glossy in photoshop!
Kristen…you are absolutely fabulous for doing these wonderful tutorials for us all. You've inspired me, but I am still at the kindgergarten stage with the photo shop stuff. Right now my computer has photoshop image ready 2.0 and photoshop 5.5. I think I figured out that the image-ready one is the program where my saved photos are altered because I can only play with the photos and then save them. My quandary is that I really don't know much about the layering…getting more than one image up there and especially if I want to combine text onto the image at all…then getting to the 5.5 program and printing it. When I try to print a little message comes on telling me that the image is too big. Sigh. I don't know how to do this and it is frustrating. If you could do a basic photoshop segment or two…from start to finish….step-by-step, for those of us who are older, but not necessarily wiser, and who have not grown up with these programs….THAT would be a most beneficial tutorial. Or tutorials because it is unlikely that you could cover the entire thing in one easy-to-understand, very basic tutorial. Or is it just me?
Thanks again, look forward to this post every week.
Some things I would like to learn more about- do you have any favorite books or blogs where you learn how to do all this stuff?
Anonymous–I did cover a bit of basics and layering and adding text in an earlier post. Look in my archives. Photoshop is very complex and I've had many hair pulling moments in the past few years as I've taught myself (didn't grow up with it, either).
Are you printing images on your computer? I don't do that at all. Local labs are so inexpensive, ink costs so much, I'd rather not do it at home. You will have to resize your image. Find your crop tool and crop it to a 4×6, then try to print that. Or, upload to a site and it won't matter what size it is. Email me if you need more help.
I discovered your blog and wonderful tips. Thank You so very much for your help, tips and pointers. I love photography, pictures and am just a novice! So much to learn! Thanks again.