Beautiful Photography

Dreamstime is a site where you can download a large variety of photos for your personal use. Also available are royalty-free photographs which means that you pay for the image only once and then you can use it as many times as you like. Upload your own photos and take advantage of the large amount of traffic to achieve great portfolio exposure by offering free images. If you want to try selling your photos, you can do that here as well. Dreamstime wants your ideas and thoughts whether you are a photographer, designer or regular user so it allows you to create a blog to tell your story, promote favorite images and photographers, post tutorials or simply exchange opinions with your with fellow dreamstimers.

Learn Photoshop Now

Lesson 1: Navigating the Workspace
Lesson 2: Working with Documents
Lesson 3: Image Modes & Color Selection
Lesson 4: Selections and Masks
Lesson 5: Layers and Blend Modes
Lesson 6: Adding and Working with Type
Lesson 7: Painting Tools
Lesson 8: Retouching Tools
Going Beyond the Basics

Learn how to quickly and easily master the basics of photoshop in just 2 hours and produce graphics like a pro... your friends and family will be amazed!

"Learning Photoshop - The Toolbox"

Learning to use Photoshop does not have to be difficult. In fact, the more you learn about Photoshop and the wide range of applications available the more excited you will be able the possibilities for creating professional quality images and graphics for web sites, marketing materials and more.

The Photoshop toolbox is where it all happens. Almost every single thing you do in Photoshop will involve using tools from the toolbox.

Learning to use the Photoshop toolbox will require a good Photoshop tutorial but the following should give you an idea of the functions available.

The following are a list of the tools included in the Photoshop toolbox and their applications. This is not a comprehensive list but includes the most commonly used tools.

Marquee tool

This tool is part of the selection tool and allows the user to selections.

Move tool

The move tool is used to move layers and selected objects within the canvas.

Brush tool

The brush tool paints brush strokes.

History brush

You will want to learn to use the history brush tool as it can take you back to the original state of the selection. You have a lot off fun with this tool. Once you learn to use it properly you will be amazed by the professional photo effects you can produce.

Eraser tool

This tool erases solid colored areas.

Dodge tool

This tool lightens areas of your picture selectively.

Burn tool

This took make areas on your image darker. Burning and dodging are techniques that were original practiced by photographers in traditional darkrooms for the purpose of lightening or darkening images.

Type tool

The type tool is used to put text on your image.

Type Mask tool

The type mask tool is a tool located on the toolbar that allows you to create a selection in the form of text or type.

The real benefit of Photoshop over some of the lesser photo editing software applications is the toolbox. Many of the cheaper photo editing programs do not provide such a wide selection of tools allowing the user to have total control over the creative process.

Photoshop puts total control over your final image in your hands. That is why so many professions use Photoshop.

Author David Peters: Master The Basics Of Adobe Photoshop In Under 2 Hours With Easy To Follow Instantly Accessible Online Video Tutorials.

Full Details Here: Learn Photoshop Now

Learn how to quickly and easily master the basics of Photoshop in just 2 hours and produce graphics like a pro... your friends and family will be amazed!

There is no photo editing or graphic design project that you cannot accomplish using Adobe Photoshop if you are thoroughly familiar with the tools available.

The tool that seems to be necessary for nearly every application in Photoshop is the selection tool. The selection tool isolates objects for the purpose of editing specific areas of your image without effecting the entire image.

The selection tool in Photoshop is actually four tools depending on your particular task. The selection tool includes the Rectangular Marquee Tool, the Elliptical Marquee Tool, the Single Row Marquee Tool and the Single Column Marquee Tool.

What can you do with the selection tool in Photoshop? The following are just a few examples of projects or applications you might being doing in Photoshop and how the selection tool can make your life easier.

Cropping

Cropping images requires that you use the selection tool to designate the section of the image to be removed or cropped.

Adding Text to Images

If you plan to add text to an image or graphic design you can also designate the area to add the text using the selection tool.

Isolated Color Work

Let's say you want to adjust the saturation or hue of a particular object in a photography. The selection tool will allow you to isolate the object and then adjust the color as needed. You can adjust the entire selected area or isolated color channels.

These examples are obviously a very small sample of the ways you might use the selection tool in Photoshop. In fact, the selection tool is used for hundreds of different photo editing projects or more.

The selection tool in Adobe Photoshop is probably one of the most important tools that you will use in your photo editing and graphic logo design work.

As you learn Photoshop be sure to develop a solid grounding in the use of the selection tool.

Author David Peters: Master The Basics Of Adobe Photoshop In Under 2 Hours With Easy To Follow Instantly Accessible Online Video Tutorials.
Full Details Here: Learn Photoshop Now

Find Your Art School is a site dedicated to helping you choose a school to learn the art of photography. It has links to several popular photography schools including: Brooks Institute, Academy of Art University, Antonelli College in Cincinnati, and Brown College.

Photography schools will teach you both the technical aspects of professional photography, as well as provide instruction on art history, the history of photography, color theory, and composition. Most art schools and photography schools also include courses in business practice, in order to get you up and running in your new career as soon as possible.

You will also receive assistance in creating your own portfolio to show to prospective customers. Most art schools also aid their graduates in job placement and career counseling.

There are numerous career options once you earn a degree in photography including:

Commerical Photography
Digital Photography
Photographic Imaging
Photography
Professional Photography
Visual Communications Photography

Visit Photography School Guide for more information on choosing the right school for you.

Want to get rid of that nasty shine that you get taking pictures? Well now you can, follow these easy steps: Let's start with a great, overlooked trick. After opening the image, open the same image again in a new window. In Photoshop, choose Window ->Arrange -> New Window. In Elements choose View->New Window. This allows you to view one window zoomed in for detail work and the other window at 100% so you can judge the effects. Using the magnifying glass tool draw a box around the area of shine. Make the box big enough to also show a fair amount of un-shiny skin. Select the Clone tool. At the top of the page select Mode: Darken and use the slider to set Opacity at 50%.Using the Clone Tool, select an area of un-shiny skin by putting the circle over the area and holding down the Alt button while left-clicking the mouse. To best match skin tone try to select the area of skin closest to the shine. Quick tip, to easily resize the Clone Tool circle simply use the bracket keys, [ and ] - much easier than moving your cursor back and forth between the photo and the Size slider. Now simply click on the shiny area and watch the magic happen. You'll have to experiment a little for best effect, and for larger areas be sure to resample the un-shiny skin frequently. In the zoomed-in image the effect might look too obvious, so you'll need to keep an eye on the 100% image to track your progress. Notice the difference on the tip of the nose, the cheek, and above his eye.

Pictures are made up of many things, editing requires knowledge of all 3: 1) Contrasts adjustments (the highlights and the shadows) 2) Neutral tones balance (color cast on grey) 3) Increasing or decreasing the saturation The work flow of the photographic post production can be performed with many adjustment tools as: Brightness/contrast - Color Balance - Hue/Saturation, or Levels - Hue/Saturation, or Auto-Adjustments - Sponge. This tutorial is very brief and introduces a new method to decrease color cast on neutral tones. The picture has a really intense orange color cast. I took this picture of Christopher Columbus' statue along the "lower pavement" in Funchal (Madeira Island). No need to be a colorimetric expert to understand that, the light effect due to the night orange lights is to much. The goal is to decrease color cast, of course, without changing the "meaning" of the picture.First of all we duplicate the background layer. Then we apply Filter>Blur>Average, that will transform the picture's layer into a colored "stain" by the average pixels' color. Then we have to invert (ctrl+i) the obtained color in order to see the opposite color.Now we change blending mode to Color (read also Blending modes tutorial) and decrease master opacity until we obtain our goal. And that's all!

Gradient maps can help your coloring on Photo manipulations a lot. They can be used to help blend things in and to make the colors in things the same. So you should have the same picture from the section Textures open. Okay now looking at you textures picture. You might think. My textures dont really blend in well with my face. So I am going to show you how to blend those in better using gradient maps. So I want you to decide what you want your face to look like (mainly color wise). So to make my textures blend in more I start off by going to Image> Adjustments> Gradient Map. Since I want a green picture I am going to pick a green/yellow gradient map. Then I am going to set it on soft light. After I put the opacity down a bit. Then I added a black and white gradient map. I did this because I wanted to make the picture a bit darker. I left the black and white gradient map on normal and set it on around 50% opacity. It will get rid of a bit of the color but thats what the green and yellow gradient maps were for (they were to add color so it didnt look really bland when we added the black and white one). Here is my picture after adding gradient maps.

There is only two things you have too know about the ExtendScript Toolkit program right now: Select target application, ExtendScript must know which application you are writing the script for. In the top left dropdown menu select Adobe Photoshop CS2 and if asked if you want top start it choose yes. Running script, to run a script you have written you press the button that looks like a play button. Reference documents All objects have different properties that can be set and methods that can be executed and right now you probably don't know any of these, this is where the reference documents come in. The reference document for JavaScript contains information about all objects available in your scripts.

Start with a blank photoshop document of size 1024*768 and white background. Choose the brush "rough round bristle" from the toolbar. Create a new layer and draw some lines. Right click on the new layer and choose "blending options". Choose the values. DROP SHADOW INNER GLOW BEVEL AND EMBOSS; For "texture", choose "satin" as the pattern. TEXTURE Now add some motion blur to this layer from filters > blur > motion blur. Similarly, add gaussian blur also to this layer with the radius around 72. Not so catchy yet. Well try this. Change the background color of the default layer as black by choosing Edit > Fill from menu. Now look at the output. Ahh, that looks much better, isn't it ? You can add some text to this texturized background if you wish.

As with many applications, working in Photoshop can be made far easier and more efficient by using keyboard shortcuts.Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N New layer Ctrl/Cmd + J Duplicate current layeR. Here are a few useful shortcuts: Ctrl/Cmd + [ Move layer downwards Ctrl/Cmd + ] Move layer upwards Ctrl/Cmd + E Merge linked layers Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + E Merge visible layers Ctrl/Cmd + A Select all Ctrl/Cmd + D Deselect Ctrl/Cmd + L Levels Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + L Auto levels Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Alt + L Auto contrast Ctrl/Cmd + M Curves Ctrl/Cmd + I Invert colours Ctrl/Cmd + Z Undo Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + Z Step back in history Ctrl/Cmd + F Apply last used filter Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + X Liquify tool Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + Shift + X Pattern tool

Our eyes can sometimes deceive us. Everyone's eyes see slightly different colors. One person will see a purple color, while another will see a blue. Those that are colorblind cannot distinguish some colors from another. While we see it to be a good skin tone, it may not be seen as one to someone else. Also, depending on the monitor that you own, you may see a different color than other computers. Making palettes straight from photos heightens the chance greatly of realistic, more accurate works. Also, these color palettes are used professionally. Those who work with color correction use this to help them with their vocations. Even the printing press use this. You can also take colors from the lips, eyes and hair to help with realistic color of those. You would use it the same way as you did for the skin. Finding the darkest, the mid tone, and the lightest before creating a palette to use.

Click Here to Learn Photoshop in About 2 Hours.

If you're planning on purchasing a camera but have no idea what kind to buy, or where to start, visit Photography.com and read up on their latest reviews.

This site also contains numerous articles on photography including topics on the basics of photography, taking photos, techniques, and information on equipment, to name a few.

Learn how to quickly and easily master the basics of photoshop in just 2 hours and produce graphics like a pro... your friends and family will be amazed!

"Merging Two or More Images in Photoshop First Things First"

Have you ever noticed how magazines, newspapers and some web designers are able to combine multiple photographs together to create cool collages of merged images?

Merging two or more images into one image has become the standard. Everywhere you look you will see examples. Whether you are a web designer, graphic artists, or photographer you can benefit from the ability to merge photographs.

Photo merging techniques will allow you to create original logos, advertisements, backgrounds for web sites, and much more.

If you have Adobe Photoshop then you already have everything you need to create amazing digital collages from multiple photos. Photoshop is the professional%uFFFDs choice for digital photographic editing and manipulation.

Before you start merging two or more photographs to make a digital collage it is important that you spend a little time planning your final image.

While technical knowledge in how to use Adobe Photoshop to merge photographs is essential don%uFFFDt downplay the importance of planning your final image before you even start working in Photoshop.

With that being said, the layers function in Photoshop is perfect for allowing you to experiment with different options.

The following are areas to consider when planning a photo collage image.

Choosing Photographs

The most important part of merging multiple photographs is as simple as choosing the right photographs for your photo collage. The photographs you choose can compliment each other in terms of a general theme or color scheme. Try using the eyedropper in Photoshop to check colors and look for complimentary colors.

Composition

Once you have chosen the right photographs for your photo collage it is time to think about your composition. Browse the Internet and look for example of digital photo collages and look for images that you feel are particularly effective in relaying the message intended by the advertiser or artist. Pay attention to the composition of the images. Consider what makes the images blend well together.

The great thing about Adobe Photoshop is that you can work in multiple layers which will allow you to play around with your composition before permanent placement.

Author David Peters: Master The Basics Of Adobe Photoshop In Under 2 Hours With Easy To Follow Instantly Accessible Online Video Tutorials.
Full Details Here: Click Here to Learn Photoshop in About 2 Hours.

Check out FunPhotoShop where you can store an unlimited number of digital photos for FREE! Organize your photos using an unlimited number of albums with an unlimited number of digital photos. Add captions and share all your photos with friends. You can make mini albums for your blogs, forums, or MySpace and you can also create direct links to your photos. All for free!

This is such a fun site! Easy and FREE too! It allows you to make a website where you can upload your own photos to share with friends and family. ISimply upload your photos from your computer, create your website and start sharing with friends and family. It's an ideal way to store the pictures you want to share with others and to update family and friends about what's going on in your life. You don't have to know anything about creating a web site - simply choose a template and start sharing your photos.

This site also allows you to create photo albums - one for each topic - maybe one for your kids' athletics or dance, one of your fabulous pets, or one of yourself to where you can share your hobbies.

You can keep a calendar of events you want to share as well. Lots of fun things to do that you take advantage of for no cost. And don't worry...if you still like to have an actual picture that you can hold in your hands, you can do that here too!

A fun site, Zazzle gives you a way to make money selling your own products. Post your products for sale in the Zazzle marketplace. Set the amount you want to earn on every purchase. You can ever get your own free store! Simply upload your own photos and create greeting cards, calendars, mouse pads; add your photo to t-shirts, bags, mugs - just about anything you can imagine.

RedBubble - a site where you can find and share art, design, photos, and writing. I really enjoy this site as it has a ton of unique art work and photography. Lots to choose from and quite stunning.