Here is a fast tip on how to isolate a specific area on an image and blur it. Using the elliptical marquee tool, select the area you desire to blur. A good example would probably be an individual’s face in a crowd shot, if you do not want to reveal their identity. Next go to the drop down menu, filter, blur, gaussian blur. Select the intensity level in which you want to blur the object or person. It’s that easy! Get creative with it!
Peace!
These simple steps will explain how to mask out an image to take upon the shape of text.
Step1. Open the image of your choice and then duplicate the layer. Next, type the word you want across the image as shown below.
Step2. Move cursor over the layer with the type icon in the layer box. Hold control or open apple and then click. You should now have the marching ants around the text.
Step3. Turn off the original image layer and the text layer. Select the duplicate image layer in the layers box as shown below. Finally click on the add layer mask icon at the bottom of the layers box to clip out the image.
Hope this helps!
Peace!
Converting Photoshop pixel files into an Illustrator vector file.
Have you ever created a logo or had an object in photoshop that you wanted to convert into a vector file? Well, here is one simple way to achieve this. Now keep in mind that considering how complexity of your design, will determine how much clean up you will need to do later in Illustrator. I find that this technique works more efficient with designs that are not so complex. Its great with logos, one color process t-shirt designs, etc.
Step 1: Open the file you want to convert in photoshop. Use the magic wand tool to highlight the object. The object should show the marching ants around it as shown below in Figure 7:1.
Figure 7:1.
Step 2: Next you will click on the path tab that is located on the layers box. Click on the path icon located at the bottom to change the marching ants into a working path. See below in Figure 7:2.
Figure 7:2.
Step 3: After completing the first two steps, click back on the layers tab and turn the eye off on the object layer so you can view the path as seen below in Figure 7:3.
Figure 7:3.
Step 4: We are almost finished! In the top menu bar, click on file, export, paths to illustrator as shown below in Figure 7:4. Save and name the object as an illustrator file to your destop or folder of your choice.
Figure 7:4.
Step 5: This is the final step! Open the new object file in illustrator. You can now change the colors, clean up the graphic and resize it the way you please as a vector format. See below in Figure 7:5.
Figure 7:5.
Hope this helps!
Peace and God Bless!
Using the Color Range Tool
When the selection you need to make can be identified by its color, the Color Range selection tool provides a pretty cool alternative to the Magic Wand. The magic wand is cool but a less effective way of altering color ranges. To see the Color Range tool in action, choose Select then Color Range in the drop-down window. From the Select drop-down list, choose what you want to select. Use the Sampled Colors option to select a color by clicking with the eyedropper on the image. Alternatively, you can choose to make a selection of all the reds, yellows, greens, cyans, blues, or magentas in the image. Further options include the ability to select the highlights, midtones, or shadows.
To make a selection of colors you sample yourself, set the Select Option to Sampled Colors and click with the eyedropper on a color in the image. The areas that match the color under the eyedropper will be selected and will appear as white or light gray in the preview image in the Color Range dialog box. To add colors to the selection, click the Add to Sample tool (the eyedropper with a plus sign) and click again on other colors in the image until you’ve selected everything you want to select. Use the Subtract from Sample eyedropper to remove colors from the selection. The Fuzziness slider enables you to select more or fewer colors—adjust the slider until you’re satisfied with the selection, as shown below. I hope this is all making sense so far. 🙂
Sample:
The Color Range tool lets you make a selection based on color. Use the Fuzziness slider to adjust the amount of color selected.
To preview the selection on the image, choose an option from the Selection Preview menu:
Grayscale, Black Matte, White Matte, or Quick Mask. These options show you the area you’ve selected. When you’re satisfied with the selection, click OK and the selection marquee will appear on your image.
The Color Range tool is particularly useful for selecting highlights, midtones, and shadows when you need to adjust these settings separately in an image. It’s a cool alternative to the Magic Wand because it gives you more options for making color-based selections, including the ability to preview the selection before you have to commit to it.
Peace!
To change the color of an image, press Cmd/Ctrl+U to open the Hue/Saturation dialog box as represented below. Then move the Hue slider to change the color. Use the Saturation control to adjust color intensity, and Lightness. Click on Colorize to add color to a grayscale image or to add a duotone effect to an RGB/CMYK image.
Peace
Ever wanted to move a little quicker when working in Photoshop CS2?
Well here is a link to keyboard shortcuts that you graphic designers out
there may find useful. I know, I know CS3 is out but a brotha is still currently on CS2.
Peace!
When using the Safari browser, instead of openning multiple new individual windows, hit open apple + t. It will make a new tab for you in the upper bar. It makes life a whole lot easier when navigating. I found that a lot of people didn’t know about this.
Peace Out!
Marvin Eans 