Shadowhouse Creations Text Brush Set

Shadowhouse Creations Text Brush Set contains 10 large (2500 X 2500) pixel brushes.
Each brush displays a different text-font, and the set was made in Photoshop 7, so
they're compatible with Photoshop 7 and up, and should be with Elements of all versions.

Example 1 (above) using black text.

Example 2 (above) using white text.

Example of brushes in Photoshop.

Download Brush Set Here:

OR DOWNLOAD HERE 

600 X 600 Pixel Photo Shadowbox Kit

                        [Click images for larger views]


600 X 600 Pixel Photo Shadowbox Kit is a PSD file which can be
used transparently, and was created for web posting, such as a
template for images on your blog.

The kit comes with four optional blurred shadows to help make your
images stand out and noticed. For those who have a white blog post
background I included a one pixel black outline, which can be reduced
in shade by lowering the opacity in Photoshop, otherwise the back -
ground will be the color of your post background.


I hope this kit can be of use and finds a lot of new homes and users.

Peace

Download Zipped Set Here:


Alternative Download:

OR DOWNLOAD HERE

Brush Painting on a Layer Mask:

Masks are incredibly useful for blending photos and hiding portions of images without altering them directly.  In this tutorial we'll learn how to use the brush palette and fill layer
with mask to make a photo layer mask.

Creating attractive photo borders or creative cutouts can be an easy and fun task when using masks. In this short tutorial I will show you how to give your photos an easy and creative cutout while painting on a mask with brushes.

1. Open a photo that you intend to use.  This is what I’ll use to demonstrate.






2. Make a solid fill adjustment layer by clicking Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid, or click on the half black/half white circle in the bottom of the layers palette and choose Solid fill. Choose white as the color.  Follow images shown below.




3. Lower the opacity of the fill layer to reveal the photo underneath. Somewhere around 75% should do nicely.


Now you should be able to see the image underneath as shown below.

 
4. Choose the Brush Tool[B] and select a big brush, preferably a paint stroke brush, something with character and ragged edges. Choose black as your foreground color.




5. Select the mask on the Fill Layer, now start painting with your brush to reveal what you want visible, if you feel you messed up on a spot, just select white as your foreground and paint over it to cover it up, then switch your foreground back to black and continue till you feel satisfied with the results. When done be sure to raise your opacity back to 100% and flatten and save.

Here’s what I have using the brush selected from above step 5.

 
Something I like doing also, is to use some swirl or decorative brushes to add some flair.


6. Optional, you can always reduce the opacity of the brush in the options bar at the top of the screen if you want to reveal less of the photo.
NOTE: Black cuts away the mask and reveals what's underneath,while white hides and any shades of gray are varying opacities.  Don’t forget to set your opacity back to 100% and flatten and save.

Here’s some links to brushes that might be of interest.
Paint Brushes
More Paint Brushes
And More Paint Brushes

Decorative Brushes
More Decoration Brushes
Floral Brushes

Photoshop Tip: Turn on the Alignment Options in the Move Tool

Let's face it, you create a new document,copy and paste a new image onto the canvas, and try to position it to the center, if you're a beginner, you may try to judge the center point by using your eyes.  But believe me, your eyes don't always tell the truth.
That's when the alignment options come in handy.  Simply click on the “Move”tool   ( shown below).
   
  
Then you will see the alignment options appear on the top (menu bar) that I have hi-lighted and shown below.



And let's say you want to position an object in the center of the canvas, simply Ctrl+A to select the whole canvas,then you will see some alignment options become clickable.

And then you simply click on "Align Vertical Centers" and "Align Horizontal Centers" you will see the object is now positioned in the center of the canvas.

Like any thing else, the more often you do this, the quicker it becomes second nature.

Shadowhouse Creations " Birds Brush Set 3 "

Here's a free set of Bird Brushes, 23 in all and made using Photoshop 7, so they'll be

compatible with versions 7 and up, also PS Elements 3 and newer.

Birds Brush Set 3 ~ Download

2 Photoshop Tips

Photoshop Tip 1: How to Draw a Perfect Circle/Square

Here's a quick but basic Photoshop tip for beginners.Let's take a look at the toolbox and find the set of drawing tools as shown below. (To expand, left click on the rectangular tool and hold)

You can use these tools to draw rectangular or oval shapes, as shown below.

Now here's the trick, if you would like to draw a 'PERFECT" circle or a square, you must hold down the shift key while dragging your mouse.

That's it.

..............................................................................................

Photoshop Tip 2: Unlocking The Background Layer

Trust me, there will come a time that you will want to
unlock the background layer, for whatever purpose.
To do so, simply "double click" the background layer on
the layer palette, as shown below.

You will then be prompted with a new window, simply click OK.

And you will now see the lock on the background layer is gone,
that means the background layer is now unlocked.

You can now drag the background layer up and down,just like all
other unlocked layers.

That's it.

Photoshop Tip: Image Pop Blur / Overlay Effect

Touch image for a before and after "Mouse Over" effect. This is one of those tricks most of you already know, but for those who don't, you're gonna love it. This is a simple trick that will make those light or over saturated images pop.  Let's get started. Open an image you feel needs some help. Now, duplicate your picture either by dragging it to the "Create New Layer" icon next to the trash can at the bottom of your Layers Panel or hitting "Ctrl + J" on the keyboard. Next we're gonna apply "Gaussian Blur" (Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur) now set the "Radius" slider to 4.0.  Blurry isn't it?  Now go to the "Layers Palette" and change the "Blending Mode" from "Normal" to "Overlay."  What a difference! I sometimes adjust the "Opacity" level, and as seen here I set it at 80%. If you look at the before and after, you can see that this method makes the light tones lighter and the dark tones darker while softening it. Sometimes applying a higher percentage of "Gaussian Blur" along with a higher "Overlay" percentage gives a dreamier effect. That's it, hope it was fun.

Photoshop Tip: Scattering Brushes

Photoshop Tip: Scattering Brushes

This is a tip done in Photoshop CS3, and I'm not sure which older versions are compatible, certainly CS3 and newer.

To scatter a brush shape about randomly in different sizes and at different angles, click on your brush tool.
Click on the brushes tab up on the upper right corner of your Photoshop window (or hit F5).

Click on "Shape Dynamics." Set your "Size Jitter" slider somewhere between 50-75%. Ifyou don't want your brush size to get smaller than a certain size,set your "Minimum Diameter"slider to whatever percentage you think will fit.  To change the angle of the brush, set the "Angle Jitter" slider low or high, depending on how much you want the brush to tilt to one side or the other. Make sure everything else is at 0% or off.

Now, click on "Scattering," and then set the sactter slider as low or high as you'd like. You can see how much it's scattering in the thumbnail. Click on "Brush Tip Shape."  Move the "Spacing" slider to the right until the brush is spaced how you'd like.  Make sure the rest is set at 0% or off.

That's it!  Now paint with your brush.

NOTE: Everytime you want to do this with a brush, you will have to set these settiings to your liking, so play around with the controls and get to know the settings so it becomes second nature and comfortable.

                                                                                   

Photoshop Tip "Brush Fading"

BRUSH FADING, here's a Photoshop brush tip many of you may not have heard of, or maybe it's something you may have forgotten over the years.

There's a way to make a brush "Fade Out" as the stroke continues.  Almost like a real paint brush would.

Select a basic brush with your "Preset Picker."  About 25 pixels or so would be a good size.  Now, click on the "Brushes" tab on the upper right of your Photoshop working space ( or hit F5 ).

Click on "Shape Dynamics" and make sure Size Jitter,Minimum Diameter,Angle Jitter, and Roundness Jitter are all set at 0%.   The Controls after Angle Jitter and Roundness Jitter should be set at "Off." (As Shown Above)

Now, next to the Control under "Size Jitter", click the small arrow on the right and select "Fade."
In that small box to the right of it, put in a number, somewhere between 50 and 300.  Depending on how long your line is.  This value is how many pixels out you want the line to go before it starts to fade out completely.

Now take the brush and paint on your canvas.  You'll see it "Fade Out" as it goes on.  What it's now doing is becoming smaller and smaller until the brush size is 0 pixels.


You can also make it actually fade out.  Instead of (or in addition to) clicking on "Shape Dynamics," click on "Other Dynamics" under the brush tab menu.

Set everything to 0% and "Off" as before.  Under the "Opacity Jitter" slider, change the "Control" on that to "Fade."  Now, in the small box to the right of it, put in a value like you did before, 50 to 300 pixels, or as long as you need it to be.  This works the same way, but it will actually fade out, instead of getting smaller, and actually I use both settings.

They both have their own different uses, but also work very well together.

Well, hopefully you learned something new here, and you may want to keep an eye out for more Photoshop tips in the near future.

Photoshop " Vintage Effects Tutorial "

Earlier I was going through some old photos and thought this bleached out image would be a good example to show a quick and easy way to add a vintage tone effect in photoshop.

Click on all images for larger view.

 Original Image

Step one: Open image in photoshop,which automatically becomes the background layer,now make a duplicate of the background layer.
Right click on the background layer,then click Duplicate Layer which brings up a box to name your new layer, you can name it what you want, I just leave it as background copy.  Click OK.

Step 2:  Make sure the background copy is selected, now go to Filter, select Sharpen and then click Sharpen.

Step 3:  When applying a vintage effect,Filter will be your most used tool.So lets go to Filter,click on Render, then select Clouds and set the Opacity to 25%.

Here's what it will look like, below.

Clouds Filter Added

Step 4:  Now we're going to create a new "Fill Layer" a solid color. Go to Layer - New Fill Layer - Solid Color - click OK. Choose a navy blue color 1E1565,and click OK.  Now in the layers mode box, set the mode to "Exclusion" and the Opacity at 100%.  As you can see, this makes the photo's yellow and blue colors stand out.

Here's what we got so far, below.

Blue Layer Added

Step 5:   Now lets experiment with another "New Fill Layer > Solid Color" and this time choose a yellow color E0D180, click OK. Now set the layers mode to "Overlay" and the opacity between 25 and 50 percent, I choose 50%.

Here's what it looks like, below.

Yellow Layer Added

Step 6:  Ok, one more, "New Fill Layer > Solid Color" and this time choose a brown - 5F5545, Now set the layers mode to "Multiply" and the Opacity at 50%.

Here's what it looks like, below.

Brown Layer Added

Step 7:  Now we're going to make a duplicate of the background again as in step one.  Then drag it to the top of the layers,then set the layer mode to"Overlay" and the
Opacity at 80%.  Now sharpen again as in step 2.   That's it, flatten and save.

Here's the finished image, below .......pretty neat huh!

Finished Image

Step 8:  An extra tip, to add a Glossy Effect, after flattening, make a duplicate of the background once again, "I heard that" now go to Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur and set it at 3.0 ......blurry huh, don't worry, the next and final step will fix that.  Now set the layer mode to Overlay and the Opacity at 55%.

Here's what it looks like, below.       Big difference huh!

Glossy Effect Added

I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy tutorial,and hope it makes you want to experiment with the Filter tools and ease up on using the quick and easy actions that are available everywhere.

A Star Is Born

A Star Is Born, originally uploaded by SkeletalMess.

Entry into the Pimp my Pixels edit group.
Thanks kindly to By Evy Photography for the wonderful baby image.