(Unwanted) SL and PS Break…

November 3, 2008 at 4:32 pm (Uncategorized)

I am on a business trip in Croatia for the week, Mexico City next week and Sweden the week after.  I have brought along PS to install on my work laptop, but have this feeling I will be stuck in a lot of business dinners for awhile.  Sigh.  And just when I thought I was getting somewhere…

Have a bunch of pics from Kay and Aris’ wedding yesterday to process too….in any case, a very big congrats to the happy vamp couple!!!

Permalink Leave a Comment

Blurring the Edges

November 1, 2008 at 11:49 am (Contest Entries, Photoshop, Tutorials) (, , , , , , )

Woke up to a little bit of yayness this morning :D

D

The pic will be up in the Fishy Strawberry main shop for a month, ty Fae and Johnny!

I have seen other pics altered in photoshop with various highlighting and blurring tools, to be able to draw the focus on the subject.  Here I used a the blur brush to darken the (amazing) items in the shop in the foreground.  Ya thinking about it now, usually the background is blurred, but it’s technique in any case to be discussed here ;-)

1. To Blur
– Make a layer with a copy of the background by selecting the layer and dragging it to the copy layer er button (second from the right on the bottom of the layer window).  BTW, if you click that button you get a new alpha layer (ya I just learned that…I said I was a newb)
– Select the blur tool from the tool menu (in the same section as the brush tool, looks like a teardrop)
– Change the brush size and effects on the top of the window.  In this pic I used a darkening effect with 50% strength to blur the left side of the pic
– Swipe over areas you want blurred.  You can probably use a selection tool to be more accurate…I just get selection lazy :)

2. To Darken Edges of a Pic (the pic uploaded above does not have this effect)
***You use the Burn tool to darken, Dodge tool to lighten***
– Select the burn tool from the tools menu (same section as the brushes and blur, looks like a little pin)
– Change the brush size and effects on the top of the window
– Brush over the edges and areas to darken.  I just practiced on the pic after I uploaded to change some of the shading to the right of the pic, to draw more attention to the ad

Permalink Leave a Comment