OFFICIAL Photoshop Guides Thread

[Dr. V]

As promised, I'm starting my OFFICIAL thread for Photoshop mini-guides, tips, tricks, and useful little things. My huge monster guide had a very unhappy deletion...don't ask (well you could ask Blake, he knows), it's a very disturbing and sad story. But I'm back! Just a note to check out my OFFICIAL Signature Request Thread, and my Wallpaper Creations Thread!

Before we start, make sure you know that you can post in this thread with whatever you like. Predominantly questions that could help others, requests, and suggestions. More specific things should be kept to PMs, emails, and MSN. stixx.3@gmail.com is the email address for emails and MSN (Messenger), and you can PM me whenever you want.

Everyone's gotta start somewhere, no matter what. So let's go simple-Simon for now, and start off with:

Guide I: Making a Gradient:

Pretty much two ways of going about making a gradient. The first way is to use the Gradient Tool built into Photoshop. This utilizes the current background and foreground colour settings (more on this soon) (there will be a "Photoshop Fundamentals" section of this thread coming very soon with some lingo, and the very basics you need to know - for now do your best to follow along).

Part I: The "Gradient Tool"

1) First, we need to make sure the Gradient Tool is selected. By default, the very first time you open Photoshop, it is. Also, be sure to select your desired foreground and background colours. These will be the ones incorporated into your gradient.



2) Now, we have to create a new canvass. Rather simple.



3) With the Gradient Tool selected, start above your canvas, left-CLICK and HOLD, and drag downwards, stopping where you wish.



4) As you can see here, after the exact point I released my cursor, the gradient is 100% white. Before, it's the effect of the black fading into the white.*



5) You don't have to use the foreground and background colours if you don't wish to. Here, you can choose from a bunch of presets, and when selected, the gradient will come out looking the same, except with the chosen "theme" applied. For multi-coloured options (referring to previous step), the point where you released the cursor is where the LAST colour will start to be 100% after. The other ones will be distributed accordingly before the cursor.* Please note the black outline and description for the following image.



6) Remember that black outline? Click the little box inside of it. Bang, the "Gradient Editor" window pops up. Here, you can do an extremely wide array of altering to how your gradient will look. When all is said and done, your new set up will be applied as the current theme and you can use the Gradient Tool to make the gradient you custom created. Look closely at the numbered areas and descriptions.



*AFTER the cursor refers to SAME DIRECTION YOU DRAGGED YOUR CURSOR. BEFORE the cursor respectively means the OPPOSITE DIRECTION YOU DRAGGED YOUR CURSOR.

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Part II: The Manual Method:

Now you know how to make a gradient the simple and most basic way. Ready for more? This is really the best way to make the gradient as in this method, it's created on a NEW LAYER, so you can manipulated if needed and not worry about the original background layer, or even the original layer you made it for. Shall we begin?

1) Just like the second step in the last method, we need to make a new canvass. So go ahead and do that.



2) Now, we have a canvass with one Background layer. This is the layer we're going to make the gradient on. Go ahead and click Layer, then navigate to "Gradient..." under "New Fill Layer".



3) In this next window after you click "Gradient...", you can choose some of the attributes of the new layer itself. Once you're done, proceed.



4) This is where the fun begins. The first window that pops up after you click OK (see previous image) is the "Gradient Fill" window. There are many detailed aspects of the gradient itself that can be chosen here. For now, the actual gradient itself is the most important. Click the area outlined in black, and the ever familiar "Gradient Editor" window pops up. Remember this window? I'm sure you do - go ahead and do all the alterations you wish. Pick your gradient type, edit it, change the colours, add stops, change opacities and locations, anything you want. Keep in mind you see a dynamic and real-time (corresponding with what you do in the Editor window) sample on your canvas.



Note 1: The "width" of each colour depends on where your stops are.

Note 2: To delete a stop anywhere at any time, click on the stop once, and click the "Delete" button on the bottom-right corner of the "Gradient Editor" window.

Well, there we go. You've made a gradient in two ways. Gradients are extremely versatile and can be used anywhere. In my sig right now I have 4 gradients. Confused? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, you're doing well. Keep at it and check back here for mini-guides, and you'll be Photoshopping very well soon enough! My favourite manipulation of a gradient is to curve it. This is...I guess you could say a "trademark" of mine. As you can see in my sig, RAID's, and Jokerswild's, they all have curved gradients. What's really cool is they never turn out the same - NEVER. I'm not sure if I'll show the curved gradients in my next guide or not...I might stick to covering the basics which is the right thing to do.

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Guide II: Understanding and Implementing Layer Styles:

Part I: The Shadow Brothers:

This guide is for understanding Layer Styles and how to manipulate layers. I'm not going to be covering every single sub-option in every single option (you'll get this soon), because it will take an extremely long time, and a lot of them GENERALLY useless.

First, I made a simple canvass measuring 500x200 px, and clicked the "Horizontal Type Tool" to start writing something. Note, a cursor shows up when this tool is selected. Pic 1:



Now, I clicked where I want to START the typing, and typed "Hello" - as you can obviously see. Now, lets manipulate the hell out of this word. Click Layer > Layer Styles > Blending Options... Pic 2:



Now, in this next window, you'll see a LOT of sections of the styles that you can select. We'll go in a normal order, starting with Blending Options... which is what will be open anyway. Here, you'll see a lot of options. Keep in mind, there is a dynamic, real-time sample of what you're doing to the layer on the main canvass, so it's wise to keep it visible at all times.

1) This changes the opacity of the ENTIRE LAYERS including ANY LAYER STYLES APPLIED TO IT (more on this later on in the guide).

2) This changes the opacity of only the FILL of the layer. Right now, for example, the word is black, that's the fill of it, so it will change the opacity of that black fill only. As of now, both these will do the same thing. I'll be referencing back to this option at another point in the guide. Pic 3:



Next, Drop Shadow. Again, there are a lot of options here - a lot more to explain too.

1) The Blend Mode is how the drop shadow blends into the background. No, not getting into this, so change it from its default setting of "Multiply" to "Normal".

2) The opacity here controls the opacity of the actual shadow itself. As you can see, its 75% by default, and as you change it the sample will update itself to see how it looks. Straightforward enough.

3) The angle of the drop shadow controls where (virtually, of course) the light is shining. So if the light is shining on the "object" at a 120-degree angle, that's the shadow it would have. See image 4-3.

4) The Distance controls how far away from the layer the actual shadow is. Higher = farther away. Straightforward.

5) The Spread of the drop shadow is how far "around" the image the shadow projects. It's hard to describe, but as it goes up, more of the image is affected by the drop shadow. See image 4-5 for a more detailed example.

6) The size of the drop shadow is how large the shadow itself is. The higher you go, the more around the layer it wraps and the further out it stretches. See image 4-6.



As you can see, if the light was hitting it at -60 degrees (exactly opposite of 120 degrees), that's where the shadow would be. Pic 4-3:



This picture will explain MUCH better as it's hard to do so with words. But you can see here the effect of "Spread". Pic 4-5:



Comparing this picture to 4-5, you can see the difference between the two effects. Although they often times may seem like they create the similar outcome, you can see the difference. Pic 4-6:



Moving on to Inner Shadow. The explanations are similar, and in many cases, the same as the Drop Shadows.

1) See Drop Shadow. However note: in this picture, you'll see that the colour is white. Obviously if it were the default black, you wouldn't see anything on the black writing.

2) See Drop Shadow.

3) See Drop Shadow. Note: since this is an INNER shadow rather than a DROP shadow, the light effect is different. The light is reflecting at a 120-degree angle, and at that angle, there will be a light shining on the "object"...if you will... See image 5-3 for another example.

4) Kind of backwards. It literally changes the distance of the object itself, in turn, changing where the inner shadow projects. This is an odd part of it, but see image 5-4 for another example.

5) Choke changes how far onto the "object" the shadow extends. Again, not the easiest to explain, see image 5-5 for another example.

6) The size of the inner shadow is similar to the explanation for the drop shadow, but kinda different. See image 5-6.



I used -60 again, and now you can see how it's affected. Pic 5-3:



You can see that the shadow stays stationary, and the original object moved (according to the angle). Pic 5-4:



As you can see here, more of the word has shadow over it. Similar, but different, than Distance. Pic 5-5:



Pic 5-6:



Pictures are up now, but seem to be loading slow on the ImageHigh servers. I'll upload them one by one on ImageShack tomorrow, it's just that ImageHigh lets you UL multiple photos. Actually...it's probably better to use my Photobucket account...either way I'll have them much nicer tomorrow! (It's 2:21am here right now...).

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Happy Photoshopping!

[halutzparilla]

great guide good job st!x

[Dr. V]

Originally Posted by halutzparilla

great guide good job st!x

Thanks man! Both methods are up now!

Happy gradienting.

[Yellowhello]

Oh man, just beautiful. Great guide.:con grats:

[Dr. V]

Thanks. I mentioned my new thread with tips/guides like this that I'll constantly be adding to. If anyone else has any guides/tips/tricks they wanna upload here, feel free! The more the merrier!

[othman11]

I have Elements 5, can't afford the full monty. I have about 100 pics from before the turn of the 20th century to about the 50's that I'll have to try and "restore" the prints/images. I'm looking forward to the "idiots guide" to photoshop.

[Dr. V]

Lol I'm looking forward to writing it all!

Not sure how it would help you so much in terms of restoration, but I hope it helps you in some way.

[Dr. V]

The Drop and Inner Shadow guide (a small part of the entire Layer Styles guide) is up!

Also, this thread I guess as a whole could be indited for a spot in the Newegg contest - as much of the guide that's written when the decision is made