your photoshop techniques:

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

Here is my idea. I think anyone who likes to use photoshop should post here their favorite little tricks to accomplish certain effects. anylittle thing that might be helpful for others. its such a large program that im sure we could learn alot from eachother. i myself didnt go to school for it so what i know is what i stumbled across. its probable the same for alot of u. and some probable did go to school for it and we could learn alot from u aspecialy. so give us the things you think create the best effects and maybe this will become a good sticky. look forward to the great info this thread will reveale

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

so here are some of my techniques:
ill take a photo and go to image/adjust/hue saturation to make things look sureal.
after that sometimes i diffuse the image to make it look fake almost like a painting filters/stylize/diffuse. thats how i made this saving private ryan image so smooth and different.

to make the type stand out ill use the rectagle marque tool to make box around the type, select the background layerdrag and drop the rectagle of the background to another image. then i adjust the brightness so its brighter then in filters select blur then gaussian blur. then u drag and drop it back inder the font in the origal image. then take the erase tool in the spray tip and erase what u dont want. that will lighten up the background.

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

i have a technique for making 3d glossy fonts. some others may have better ways but heres myne.

I type what i want then again in a different color and put them on top of each other stagered just a bit. its not necessary to have two sets of type but it helps. i then rastasize and merge only the type layers. you then plastic wrap it with low smoothness and high detail. that will give it the 36 effect. u then plastic wrap it again with different settings to give it glossy highlights. its something i learned from just playing around. id love to hear some other techniques for 3d font because this is not the way you would make it normaly but it works. if u dont want it to be gossy u can adjust it by diffusing it or acouple other ways.

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

how u make thing stand free of a backgroud is by opening a new file the same size and resolution of the one you are working with and select a transparent background. then drag and drop the image to that file. erase what u dont want and save as a png. now u can get barrels or what ever to float free without a background. i learned this from a post the other day.

i usually always start with a transparent background so i dont need to drag and drop.

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

this post is under writers made by lockon after a request i made and im going to post it here so he doesnt have to

my tricks:
inverted colors: ctrl+I
invert selection: crtl +shift+I (i use this a lot when i make my rounded rectangles
select the whole pic,layer: ctrl + a
select the layer, or rather all the glow, etc: ctrl+click on small picture next to your layer name

favs:
inverted colors: admit it, making a sunset with inverted colors look awesome...who wouldnt like 2 see a white Shadow the hedgehog?

ctrl+small pic next to layer name: this is probably the COOLEST thing in photoshop...this is particularly helpful if you need to take something out of a png or a picture with a transparency

helpful FXs
drop shadow/inner shadow: experiment this from the effects (fx) and i bet you will use it
(look at my avatar)

bevel and emboss: best way to master this is to tinker with it

outer glow: i use this all the time and a way 2 use it is 1st to have a black update, then have black wording, throw in a white glow, and BOOM it looks like art
(use screen for white glow, multiply for black glow, normal if your just lazy)

clipping mask: how to i find it? right click a layer and it should be in the menu
what does it do? the layer with the mask would be cut off where the LOWER layer has empyty space
*useful way to use this is to appy a stroke on the border, itz in my sigs*

Selection tool *can i have a chorus wail?*
this is the BEST TOOL EVER and if you never used this, it will show in your work
,what it does is that it kinda makes a small area that you can work with, where the areas that are no in the dotted line, are not affected by your actions

zoom: very useful if you need to do a gradient out of the image, or see it at 50% the size(use ctr+ (+) and ctrl + (-))

if you guys want me 2 tell more tips, ask me what to put on

 

[Endiment]

glowy text and glow effect

The word "evangelion" in this sig has what appears as a very even lens flare that makes the white lettering easy to read, despite the fact that the background is also near white. By applying a white glow with blend mode of color dodge, you can achieve a very bright glow.

Both sets of wings in this image are originally pure white. The outer glow is obviously achieved by using outer glow (layer->layer style->outer glow), but the color effect on the actual wings is achieved by turning on Color Overlay (the same color as the glow) and setting the opacity to 10%.

Note also that the blue wings have drop shadow turned on to partially mask their transparency.

One last note: in certain circumstances, the Blur filter can actually increase the quality of the image, particularly when the image was cut out of an uneven background using the Magic Wand tool. In the original picture I used, Rei's hair was cut off in several spots, but a Blur and they're almost invisible.

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

with a problem with the magicwand i suggest u zoom in and use the polygon laso tool(if u dont have a tablet).

 

[warshy]

shadow smuding
just make little circles in areas you want to shade and start smudging them
repeat to get the shadow darker in areas you want

simple but it works

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

i like ur sig warshy, looks like art instead of a billboard. you should make it bigger so we can see it. and to anyone who gives info its much appreciated, probably more by others than by me(we hope).

 

[VerticalKiller]

Ok so for my sig right now. I just used alot of diagonal textures with deep grain, and alot of the sharpening tool to make everything look sharper. plus if you goto filter and the click render and goto lighting and mess around with stuff in their! that makes alot of stuff look good. plus pick a dominate color when your making something. It helps alot when your trying to make stuff fit in to place.

 

[-Jv-]

Orb making

A layer with a circle on it, add a gradient overlay then duplicate that layer set fill to 0% reverse gradient overlay and put mode to hardlight, add a shine as finishing touch

 

[Cryptex]

I use really awesome brushes. Truth is I know nothing about photoshop.

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

nice blueballs jv .

 

[Endiment]

Orb making

A layer with a circle on it, add a gradient overlay then duplicate that layer set fill to 0% reverse gradient overlay and put mode to hardlight, add a shine as finishing touch

hmm not really working for me, could use some more detailed instructions perhaps

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

ya i was a little lost on that two

 

[-Jv-]

-Create a new layer, create a circle on it (any color)
-In blendingn options add gradient overlay (light to dark)
-Duplicate layer and set fill to 0%
-In blending options in gradient overlay check the reverse checkbox and set mode to hardlight

If you still don't understand, I'll drop of the PSD tomorrow (it's on my other comp)

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

no thats enough for me. thanks for elaborating.

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

bump

 

[vote for pedro]

this is my first of three

this is what i'll show you how to make in the first tut

just download the video


http://www.savefile.com/files/1732149









hey heres what i'll be showing you how to make in the second

just download the video

http://www.savefile.com/files/1732133



hers my 3rd one

heres the video

http://www.savefile.com/files/1732159

 

[SHΛRPSH??TZER]

thanks for the help with my info thread