This tutorial will teach you how to make your very own fragrance advertisements, and even though we chose to use Monica Beluci in this tutorial, you can turn any ordinary home-made picture into a fragrance advertisement billboard. So first of all you need a picture of a girl (or boy you are doing to use. Pictures of people against black or dark backgrounds are better, since we will try to create an illusion of nocturnal sky. Read the rest of this entry »

The so-called “vintage” effect is becoming more and more popular, however, not everyone knows how exactly to achieve it. It takes more than a mere sephia effect and adding grain-like, semi-visible  noise. So, allow me to introduce: Hand-coloured Vintage Photoshop action. Action includes: Aging; Colour; Cracks; Bending and as a bonus you have the facility of adding Old Paper Style effect. Moreover, bending the photo, as well as adding the shadow, gives the picture not only a vintage-like result, but also a very nice 3D effect. This can ideally work for a minimalistic wallpaper, portfolio website layout or a collage.

TIP! If you want to see all the steps in the action and learn something (actions are great learning tools), check the “step by step” or “pause for XXX sec” on the playback options. Commands within an action can be also toggled on or off, giving you the option to play each command or bypass recorded commands within the action during playback.

Download the action over artist’s page here. Please remember that this action is for personal use only, if you wish to make use of it for commercial purposes, you need Jenny’s permission.

So you’ve gotten your brand new digital camera, and you’re ready to get out and take some pictures. But what’s the next step? Well, getting some form of Adobe® Photoshop (preferably Elements 3, or CS2) is a great step in the right direction.

The Photoshop Tutorial will help you to understand what the program is capable of, and how you can utilize its tools to their full capacity. What may not be answered, though, is which format it uses and saves in, and what advantages and disadvantages there are to the different file formats.

Photoshop has the ability to open and save several different types of files, but more importantly, you should be aware of why these types of files exist and how to use them to your best advantage. It is vital to know about the different types of files while you learn Photoshop. There are three basic things that concern file format, which will determine how you should save your file: quality of image, layering, and web use.

Quality of the Image:
When you’re taking your photos, you’ll want to use the highest pixel setting possible that your camera provides. For instance, if you have a 5.1 megapixel camera, then you should use that setting to capture your images—the higher the pixilation, the greater the quality. The thing to remember, though, is that the higher the quality, the larger the file. You do have the ability to change the size of the file straight from the camera, and should consult your manual if this is something you’d like to do.
It’s best to take your photos in as a raw image, and then convert to something smaller later, because you’ll have the best ability to manipulate the image when it’s the largest it can be. Once you’ve taken the photo, and imported it onto your computer, it can import as a .jpeg or .jpg, or as a raw image. It’s best to save the raw image, because you’ll lose some of the quality with the .jpg.

Layering:
Once you have the photo in your computer, Read the rest of this entry »

This action is currently the most popular ove the entire deviantART website. I guess so many artists can’t be wrong, but let’s see what’s so good about it? It gives a fantastic effect of 60’s and 70’s photos, the kind of effect you; get when you use old Russian Camera of the “Locomotive” type with high quality 70’s film. It’s somewhat greenish yet reserves the perfect contrast and shades of red. Turning blue into torquise and adjusting skin colour to beautiful sunlit effect.

If you are working with photos (people or landscapes) and want to enhance colors or bring your picture 30 years back in time, this Photoshop action is going to be your favorite.  Download here, and don’t forget to fav or comment on author’s page.

As you can see from the few examples in the Demo Image, this Vintage Wash Photoshop action gives your creativity and artistism a lot of space for customizing the result.. Each Action will create a layer on top of the one you’re working on, so that you can delete it in case you did not like the effect or want to try another one. Moreover, it’s it’s only one additional layer on top of your photo, it allows you to play with the opacity until you achieve the desired result. To download the Action set, please visit the author’s page here.

Do you oftentimes feel confused what to use for your web images– GIFs or JPEGs? And more importantly why? Great. You deserve kudos as confusion leads to comprehension. Here is what you have been looking for all the way! Essentially, they are formats in which web images are created in. Any file with a .jpeg or .gif extension is recognized, by a browser, as an image file. A good web site is partly one that will load quickly into a browser. Agreed? Well, for this to happen, your web page has to be small in file size. The GIF and JPEG file formats compresses images so that it is web worthy.

This is vital for you that you don’t mess around when it comes to decide what to use when. Here’s what you need to know (a subtle reminder and congrats for tech guys who know it)

GIF ( Graphics Interchange Format)

• GIF was the first-ever image format created for use on the web. This implies that all browsers of all versions can read images in the GIF format.
• GIF can icorporate transparency . This is great. Isn’t this ? Especially so when you wish your graphic to blend in with your background.
• GIF compresses an image using LZW compression . Confused? Simply put, this means that the quality of your image does not degrade when it is compressed. Deterioration in image begins to crop up only when it is having more than 256 colors.
• Good results can be had using GIF when there is a large area of flat color in the image. And when it uses fewer colors. The fewer colors, the better.
• GIF can be animated . All animations, barring the more advanced Flash movies, are GIF files.

JPEG ( Joint Photographic Experts Group)

• JPEG uses a lossy compression schem. This means that you will, in fact, lose some data during compression. The more you compress, the more quality you lose. Read the rest of this entry »
  
  
  March 1st, 2008

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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