To fine a good PSD file that will be available freely online is not very easy. Some websites charge a small fee for downloading a PSD file, others just don’t offer them in the first place. Here are some really good PSD recourses that can help you to sharpen your skills.

Incredible free.psd file by Manicho fromdeviantART. This is an iPhone image with all it’s features and highest quality file. Download here. Tis fine is free for any sort of use, however you should link to the author’s page if you decide to use this image.

__________________________________________________________

This is a very nice Orb created by Paul Willocks back in 2005. Even though this PSD file is rather old and quite small (when you will download, you will see it’s hardly a big avatar size), it’s has a few very interesting effects and interesting metal-like frame. Download this file here. If you like artist’s style and want to see more of his works, take a look at his another psd orb here.

__________________________________________________________

Last year, Psychopulse, one of my all-time favourite Mac-style designers made this PSD file available for a free download. This zip folder includes 5 files that can be used either for a stylish signature, or (the original idea) for posting our desktop screenshot in a sort of thumbnail in the forums. Particularly widely spread technique in Aqua forums, but in any case, you are going to love the styles and learn from them. If you want to use them for anything else, you must ask for author’s permission. Grab the file here. If you like his style, I recommend to also check out his other downloads, snapshot 05, chalkboard, wood and frame.

As the so-called desktop design is gaining popularity, you might find this PSD file to be especially useful. it includes a few badges, note and photo effect. The author of this download — Deluxive, definitely made a lot of web designer’s life easier. Get the file here, you are going to love it.

Aero Vista. The word says it all, we all want that glossy sleek look and those semi-transparent frames. FastNFurious

__________________________________________________________ Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, as you could guess, we are going to make a cool, snowy and even arctic photo effect. Select a photo of a girl or boy you are willing to freeze. Ours come from sxc.hu

______________________________________________________

Read the rest of this entry »

Although the title of this Photoshop action “Rock Music” slightly misleads, this is still an awesome action. We would probably except to see a high contrast image, but this action gives a more vintage-like effect, similar to what you’d see in perfume adverts on pages of Vogue magazine. It gives a nicely mild purple shade to the photo, using the gradients technique. The 22-years-old author put his logo backwards on this image… try to ignore artist’s mishap

Download the actions and read the details here.

When followed, this guide will prove to be quite a valuable web design resource. From the inexperienced to the experienced, this guide has something for everyone.

The Process of Great Web Design Just to make sure we are all on the same page, lets begin with the basic definition for “web design”. According to Wikipedia, web design is:

“a process of conceptualization, planning, modeling, and execution of electronic media delivery via Internet in the form of Markup language suitable for interpretation by Web browser and display as Graphical user interface”.

The process of web design can be compared to the process of writing a research paper. In the conceptualization/planning stage, flowcharts (the outline) are created which illustrate the navigational structure of your website. In the modeling stage, static wireframes are created (the rough draft) which illustrate the skeletal layout for each section of your website. After the wire frames are created, graphics, colors and text are used to create the design of your web pages based on the layout of the wire frames. In the execution stage, your design is converted into a format supported by web browsers, text and content are added, and finally, your website is published live to the Internet for the world to see (final draft).

All three stages of the design process are equally important. Many web designers skip a stage in order to save time or because they don’t think that is is necessary. However, all three stages are necessary if your goal is to create a successful design and respectable website. Even if the three stages are used, there are many mistakes that web designers can make that will lead to poor-quality, non user-friendly websites.
It’s time to clean out the cabinet of bad web design practices and restock it with the good ones.

Stage 1: Conceptualization and planning
This stage is skipped more often than the other two stages. Most writers don’t enjoy creating outlines for research papers, and most web designers don’t like creating flowcharts either. Don’t be lazy. If you put forth the effort and plan out your website, then you will find the web design process to go smoothly with fewer mistakes made along the way.

There are a few things that you will need in order to effectively conceptualize and plan your website:

-a brain
-a pen and paper
-(optional) flowchart software
-a general idea of the different sections of your website Read the rest of this entry »

______________________________________________________________

This tutorial will teach you how to make a text that looks as if it is located behind a broken glass, which gives a little bit 3D feel to the image. It’s important to emphasize that this effect will only look good when we combine light text against dark background, otherwise, you will not be age to achieve a good result.

So.. make a new canvas of any size you want. We used the #181729 color for our background, but this is of course depends on your design. Arial narrow is our font here, however this is again up to your preference. Remember not to choose fonts with excessive curves because this may prevent us from achieving a nice result.

Select the typing tool and using the white color, type any word. Go to Layer >> Layer Styles >> Options and apply the following settings (by the way, the images are stored on my hosting, only different domain since I first thought pf publishing it on another blog. ) Read the rest of this entry »

Adobe Systems Incorporated is engaged in building applications useful for photography, Web applications, designing etc. Adobe Photoshop cs3 (creative suite3) is the latest version of applications launched by Adobe systems on March 17, 2007. This is a highly professional application most suitable for photographers, designers and web site developers. Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite was initially introduced in 2003. The first two versions were named CS and CS2 which were available in two editions namely Standard and Premium. Adobe Photoshop cs3 is a widely updated version with so many additional features. Adobe has decided to market it under six different editions. With its new and powerful editing tools and smart filters it gives enough reasons for a user to upgrade to Adobe Photoshop cs3. The upgraded features offer more flexibility and faster work flow.

Editions and their applications

• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium has a toolkit which is most useful for designing for web, printing, mobile design etc.
• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design standard mainly lays focus on professional print design.
• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Standard helps website developers with its advanced tools and features.
• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium is featured with the most advanced and latest web development tools.
• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium is most helpful to Professionals in Video photography for editing purposes.
• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection is a comprehensive package for all designing needs for print, web, mobile, video, film etc.

Features

Smart Editing toolset: Adjusting color of pictures, editing the images, blur and sharpen them are some smart features which makes Adobe Photoshop cs3 the most suitable application for professionals related to photography and designing.

Drawing and painting tools: Wide varieties of drawing tools, artistic brushes and paint settings allows user of Adobe Photoshop cs3 to create and modify better quality images.

Selection and edge refining tools: Selecting and refining portions of an image with the click of a button is made easy with these tools.

Compositing features: There are more advanced layer aligning and compositing features in Adobe Photoshop cs3.

Better Printing quality: With more updated color management features, a bigger print preview window, more print control options – printing experience in Adobe Photoshop cs3 is much better than before.

Compatible with more file formats: JPEG, JPEG2000, OpenEXR,Cineon, PSD, BMP, TIFF etc. are all supported by Adobe Photoshop cs3.

User Community

Designers, Developers and Educators form the most vital portion of the user community of Adobe Photoshop cs3 application. In designing it has a solution for every industry be it manufacturing or services. Web designing, print designing etc. has got a certain facelift with the help of Adobe Photoshop cs3. Photography Industry is one which is largely benefited with its applications. What would have been a photographers unachieved dreams are all being turned into reality with the tools and applications available in the software package. Video Editing and Digital imaging have reached highest standards all with the help of none other but Adobe Photoshop cs3. Education, teaching and learning has got an edge with the help of advanced curriculum and digital experiences.

Before you find more information on photoshop cs3 tutorial, get the CS3 because overall, Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite3 is a designers dream come true.

One thing I discovered during my experience with digital photography, is that digital photography is very well suited for the portrait photographer. So why are we the last to jump on the band wagon? Many commercial shooters have known about and mastered the use of digital in their business’s for far longer than the portrait photographer.
My guess is that we’re afraid. Afraid of the learning curve and afraid that the quality just isn’t there unless we spend an ungodly amount of our hard earned cash on some scary looking gigantic array of confusing and awkward, let alone “how am I going to learn how to use this stuff” equipment.

Truth is, you can easily get away with as little as a 3.5 megapixel camera. I know, I used my Canon D30 for the first eight months of my digital journey. That camera created more memories, more sales and more wall portraits that I ever thought imaginable. Read the rest of this entry »

Yet another fantastic Photoshop action that does not just enhance colours, but actually adds a unique and artistic effect.  Roughly speaking, it turns all the dark shades of the photo to a very dark green hue, and somewhat flattens the high contrast curves. It could be idea for signatures, landscapes, photos and portraits.

The downsides of this action is that it adds contrast and reduces the Saturation, which means images that has high contrast in the first place will end up having very light areas. It’s safe to say that this action works best with darker pictures.

Download the action on artist’s page at deviantART here.