PsPrint Blog » photoshop

Choose Stock Images Like A Pro

Britt — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:43:09 +0000

Have you ever arrived at a party and noticed immediately that someone else was wearing the exact same thing as you! Yes, that other person also found it quite simple to walk into the nearest department store, and grab the first thing they saw on display. I guess you both should have put more thought into your clothing purchase.

The widespread availability of free and paid stock images online introduces this same problem into the graphic design world. If you look around at other people’s postcards, newsletters and websites, you tend to see very safe, banal choices of imagery that don’t add much to the promotion.

When selecting a photograph or illustration, it’s important to think like an art director and get creative about choosing the most unique, effective stock imagery for the project. A great photograph or illustration can anchor an entire marketing campaign or promotion. Sometimes the artwork can even be a source of inspiration for the piece’s copy and design or format.

As a guide toward finding more interesting and effective image selections, consider the three questions below:

What do I search for?
Many stock image sites operate with a search engine. To get the most out of your search, you must go beyond the first few obvious search phrases that pop into your head. For instance, if you are looking for an image for a financial consultant’s postcard, avoid searching phrases such as “money,” “profit” and “investing.” Instead, think about the biggest benefits or goals of the consultant’s service. If he or she aims to make customers feel safe and secure in their wealth management, then you may want to try searching for “happy family,” “house” and “home,” which are images that illustrate the benefits or results of the consultant’s services.

How do I find a unique image?
If you’ve found your concept first and are looking for an image that evokes the concept, stay away from the obvious choices. To show “partnership” images with handshakes or two people with arms interlocked are two examples of boring ideas that have been done before. Think about unique instances where two things work together, such as a nature shot showing a symbiotic relationship like that of a plover bird cleaning a crocodile’s teeth. Or you can take a more symbolic graphic design approach to showing “partnership” by finding an image of an interlocking chain or puzzle pieces that you can use as design elements, repeated throughout the promotion, to represent the idea.

What if the image isn’t perfect?
Sometimes you download an image that really resonates with the theme or concept of your promotion, but when you place it on the promotion, it looks flat or like it’s missing something. That’s where photo software comes in. With many of the free and paid stock image sites out there, you have permission to manipulate the image however you want. Switching it from color to black and white or sepia tone is one trick for instantly changing the way your image looks. Don’t settle for an image as-is, when you can retouch, recontextualize and revamp an image using Photoshop and similar software.

Photoshop Tutorials for Ralph Lauren and Everyone Else

Jennifer — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:30:55 +0000

Ralph Lauren’s recent ad that features a model whose head is wider than her waist is just the latest example of what happens when undereducated – or misguided – people use technology. Following an uproar about the zealous use of Adobe Photoshop to present a distorted view of women’s bodies, Ralph Lauren admitted that “we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching.” With all the free Photoshop tutorials readily available on the Internet, graphic designers have no excuse for not keeping up with the latest techniques. So I’ve compiled a bunch of these tutorials for you, Ralph, and any other designers who’d like to maintain a good reputation. After all, you don’t want to end up on Photoshop Disasters – not all publicity is good publicity.

How to make an impressive blog layout – Design Chair

How to optimize images for the Web using the Save for Web option – In Obscuro

How to scan smooth line art into Photoshop – Tuned Out Frequencies

How to design a complete Web template – Tutorial Hero

How to create watercolor effects – InfoWorld

How to create a simple, vibrant light effect – Blog.SpoonGraphics

How to beautify a face – Lunacore

How to create dynamic distortion effects – Computer Arts

How to create a funny, “milky” text effect – GreatCreativeLinks.com

How to make an invisible man – Online-Share.org

How to create reusable borders – Tutorialized

How to create an effect involving gigantic twisters – Photoshop Tutorials

How to create a rather interesting, wavy and curving abstract shape effect – PSD Vault

How to reduce beard stubble – Photoshop Essentials.com

How to zap zits with the Spot Healing Brush – Essential Photoshop Elements

How to create urban art – Smashing Magazine

How to create a dramatic, gritty effect – Photoshop Frenzy

How to create a Photoshop Action – Veerle’s Blog

How to create incredibly realistic burnt parchment – Tutorial9

How to create flat 3-D – Media Militia

How to create 3-D typography – GoMediaZine

How to design a car dealer Web site template – Grafpedia

How to draw Nibbler from Futurama – SurfnLearn.com

Also, check out PsPrint’s previous posts about Photoshop tutorials:

Three Scary Halloween Design Effects

15 Must-See Photoshop Tutorials

Get Smart With Online Design Tutorials

Dynamic Duotones

Alternative graphic design software

Brian — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:16:30 +0000

Graphic designers are on the cutting edge of revolution. They get bored easily, so they’re always quick to make a change, introduce a new style, push the envelope and redefine the term “bold.” So why is it graphic designers seem so complacent with the software industry?

If I want a soda, I can choose between Coke and Pepsi. Both are very good products backed by very good companies. My personal preference is irrelevant – what is relevant is that I have a choice in the soda market. Not so with professional graphic design software, where Adobe is king and doesn’t appear to have any challengers for the throne.

This is a bad thing.

If Adobe has no challengers, there’s no incentive to make the software better to meet the demands of graphic designers. Instead, Adobe seems to have a cash cow – plunk out a new version of Creative Suite every couple of years and remove you from another chunk of change. Like many companies, Adobe forges forward with new features and bug fixes, but doesn’t seem to address nuisances that have plagued its software for years (admittedly, this might be in fear of negative retaliation – sometimes if you make something “different,” even if it’s better, people will complain). Take the pen tool, for example – look at any tutorial on the pen tool and you’ll read that it’s tricky to get used to. Why does it remain tricky to learn, release after release?

I’m not bashing Adobe. In fact, quite the opposite. Adobe is doing what Adobe needs to do to stay competitive and profitable. I am chastising other software companies who either will not or cannot develop a legitimate contender that can refuel innovation in the industry, as well as the graphic designers who sit back with no demand for a competitor.

I was excited some time ago when Aviary launched, because it is a software-as-a-service hosted web application. This, I believe, is the future of all software. However, Aviary has stated that it does not intend to compete with Photoshop, and though I am impressed by Aviary it is not a professional tool for most (though it’s great for the small business or webmaster).

After some research, I learned that Adobe is likewise looking at taking Photoshop and other popular software to the software-as-a-service platform. It’s going to take years, they say, though I think it will be sooner than anyone thinks (NOTE: There is currently an online version of Photoshop at photoshop.com. It’s a neat application, but not ready for professional deployment). It’s a great project, but I also wonder if Adobe’s resources will be focused mostly on the porting process and less on service innovation and – if so – has a window cracked for competition to step up?

When voters do not hold politicians accountable, their best interests are not upheld. When graphic designers and software companies become similarly apathetic, does the Adobe juggernaut continue to get better or does it simply continue to seek new ways to make money from the same old products?

15 must-see Photoshop tutorials

Brian — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:31:10 +0000

If you love Photoshop, you’ll love it even more after learning the techniques in these tutorials:

Coloring skin and body in Photoshop and how to mimic the natural play of light upon the body.

How to create a professional Twitter background – a quick-and-easy tutorial for customizing your Twitter page.

Remember how fun watercolors used to be? You can recreate a watercolor effect with Photoshop!

Pop art a la Lichtenstein – really cool stuff for the poppy designer!

Very, very cool Photoshop tutorial on how to transform a woman’s photograph into an eerie doll face and more.

How to design a website using the 960 Grid System, an oft-employed web design technique that looks great. This tutorial includes a free 960 GS download so you can quickly deploy an original 960 design.

A tutorial that covers how to make a DVD cover with Photoshop. The techniques used here could also be applied to movie posters.

Dioramas are cool, especially when you combine several images and blur/focus PS techniques to highlight your subject.

Want to master the Photoshop warp tool? This tutorial shows you the way…

Paint splashed over the face of a photographic subject – nice. What’s really neat is that this liquid Photoshop technique can be used in many, many design applications.

Yet another awesome website design tutorial. This has a clean Web 2.0 feel that many designers like to emulate.

A very unique and creative – yet clean and easy-to-follow – website design. The techniques employed here are invaluable.

Learn how to use the Photoshop mask tool to create this model effect from a photo.

When the outer glow blending option doesn’t quite cut it – use these tips to achieve an outstanding glow emanating from your subjects.

Super cool fallen angel tutorial that shows you how to blend a woman and a bird on a textured background.

What are your favorite Photoshop techniques?

6 things to remember when interpolating and resampling images

Lennis — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:13:50 +0000

Digital images contain a certain number of pixels. The dimensions at which it will be printed define its resolution. Photoshop allows you to resize photos.

Resampling happens when you change the number of pixels in a digital image, changing the file’s resolution and, of course, its reproduction size. When an image is scaled, interpolation is used to create the color levels for the pixels in the new file.

To help an image go through the prepress process more efficiently sometimes an image is subsampled, which is done by reducing the resolution.

Keep the following things in mind when scaling and resampling digital images:

Always try to scan an image at the actual size that it will be used to avoid having to resample or resize it later.
You can increase the resolution of an image by fitting it in a smaller space.
It’s best when subsampling to divide the original resolution by a whole number factor. For instance, if your original image is 600 ppi, resample to make the new resolution a simple faction of 600 ppi such as 300, 150 or 75 ppi.
Photoshop’s image size palette allows you to increase an image’s resolution. Play around and try different solutions to see what works best. Some experts say it’s best to interpolate images to higher resolutions by even factors such as doubling the size, for example. Others feel that it’s best to take several baby steps up in size such as enlarging it by 20 percent four times.
The unsharp mask filter in Photoshop can improve blurring created by resampling.
Remember, once you have resampled an image, the original information can’t be recovered, except by stepping back in the history palette, provided that you haven’t saved over the original.

Productivity software for graphic designers

Brian — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:06:10 +0000

Productivity software is generally described as software that makes businesses (or people) more productive. Simple and self-explanatory. But each niche profession (or personality) has a unique set of tasks that productivity software can automate or otherwise make more efficient. For graphic designers, programs such as Adobe’s Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Flash), QuarkXPress, and MS Virtual Basic would all be considered productivity software.

But what about the simple, time-intensive tasks graphic designers tediously undertake? Things such as identifying a font, changing a CSS style, or choosing a complimentary color can take hours away from more “important” tasks such as creating your designs and choosing imagery. The creative can be stifled by the banal.

Some of my favorite productivity software for graphic designers include:

FileZilla — An FTP application that lets you instantly edit server-side files. This comes in handy when you need to make a simple CSS change or swap a banner image.

7-ZIP — Lets you compile, compress, and unpack a myriad of file types that the built-in Windows application can’t. If you work with large file transfers, Z-ZIP and FileZilla are necessities.

IdentifFont — Identify a font by name, style or by answering a series of quick questions.

Open Source CMS systems — Content Management Systems, once put in place, save time and money. When you need to make a portfolio update, you simply fill out a form and upload your file. If you want to change content, add products or do anything else in a flash, there’s probably a CMS that facilitates the action. Learn to design and find a good developer (if you don’t code) for systems such as Wordpress, Joomla! and Drupal. Content is still king, and Open Source CMS is here to stay.

Color scheme generators/color wheels — Here’s a great list of 25 color scheme generators.

Whatsitscolor.com — Upload an image or submit a link to an image and Whatsistscolor generates a color scheme based on the colors in the image. This is valuable if you like the look of a website, brochure or postcard and want to emulate its color scheme. Color Hunter does the same, perhaps slightly cleaner.

Don’t forget that Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Quark and other software have add-ons, plug-ins, actions and a whole host of other time-saving devices available for free download. Try this list of Photoshop plug-ins for starters.

Of course, software suites such as Microsoft Office and OpenOffice deserve a mention, as well as the many commercial project management applications. For free and simple project tracking, check out FreeMind.

Image CC License Flickr.