Photoshop lesson 3

TRICKS COVERED: CREATE ANIMATED GIF AND DROP IT INTO THE PAGE

We used ImageReady to create the GIF and opened Animation, in the Window option, to get things going.

We duplicated a number of layers in the Animation bar then altered them slightly so when the play button was pressed the animation would come to life.

(I wrote the word "Pink" and changed the colour of it).

After the graphic was dragged into the header we used the guides and then the slice tool to finish the job.

In the end it looked good, the animation brought life to the header. Perhaps, if I created something similar it would be a good ideato make it a link to another site.

Speech bubbles

At last! I couldn't crack speech bubbles last summer but I'm there now. The mistake I was making was in not noticing the "add to selection" facility following the Make Work Path option.

It took me a while to realise how to add the pen-created lines to the elliptical shape...but I just kept on repeating the process, probably over ten times in quick succession, until I got it.

Cracking speech bubbles goes some way towards making up for not attending tonight's lesson, I was exhausted again...but I managed to find some energy to start work tonight and begin the momentum I now aim to continue until course completion.

POSTSCRIPT: In April I discovered that the above was unnecessary. The key to speech bubbles lies simply in finding the right section in Custom Shapes. Ah well, you live and learn!

Layer Masks

Two things to say.

Firstly, the above was just an anarchic experiment and has no merit whatsoever.

Secondly, I really need to do more work.

Illness and work-commitments have hampered my progress so I shouldn't be too hard on myself. However, I desperately need to gain some momentum to improve my confidence and rate of progress.

On Sunday I played around with the marquee tool for a while. Today, ahead of tonight's lesson, I had a look at layer masks.

I took a simple pic of Fengah Abbey and then added another layer via Render-Clouds Filter.

I used the Art History Brush to make the Abbey visible and then I just played around with the eyedropper tool and the text option to see what I could come up with.

With the latter I simply duplicated a number of layers, merged them into one and then experimented with blending options.

It was a good experiment because I should feel more confident with layer masks now. I also learned how to magnify text beyond 72.

What I need to do next is tackle one of the lessons in Photoshop Creative magazine. I bought it yesterday but didn't feel confident enough to have a go at their Layer Mask exercise, instead I referred to Photoshop In Easy Steps to get the basics in masks before progressing.

Headshot playing

I just messed around with Photoshop for an hour tonight. I roughly cut out a head shot, scaled it down and then just played around with layers, red eye, type and blending option tools.

I duplicated layers to see the effect it would have on type and played around with the eraser tool in relation to my appearance.

I now know how to put together a simple, basic header quickly. It would be nice to work on something a bit more sophisticated and professional.

Nothing earth-shaking tonight but good to acquaint myself with the tools.

Photoshop lesson 2

Tonight's lesson began where last week's left off. We worked on adding lines to the rugby header we're working on.

After some difficulty Jamie showed me how to make the lines flow. Basically use the pen tool, then the converter pen to introduced Berzier points, finally use the Direct Selection tool to broaden the shape.

We then learnt how to illuminate the lines by adding a layer and the using the filter option to access the Gaussian Blur facility.

Finally, the eraser tool was used (30%) to ensure that the faces of the players could be seen.

We then increased the canvas size and learnt how to add layer masks to the images (which increased in size when the canvas expanded).

We then cut out sections of the final jpeg, using the marquee tool, and placed them under the header we had devised.

We learnt how to colour these segments, also how to expand, contract and inverse selections.

I enjoyed this lesson but didn't feel as in control as I did for lesson one. I'll have to make sure I do some more work prior to next week (I would have before this lesson but a manic workload and illness held me back).

An interesting point Jamie made was that there is no set way on how to work in Photoshop. Two people might produce the same work yet go about it in completely different ways.

I'm going to do a mixture of disciplined photoshop work and playing around with it this week...and just see what I learn.

I'll also need to work with the Marquee tool because that was a new one on me tonight. It would also be wise if I looked at layer masks and the full capabilities of the layer pallette.