Vinyl Banner Design Tips

Vinyl banner design is about as easy as it gets for the non-professional graphic designer. Generally speaking, a vinyl banner is easy to design. Anybody with a little bit of graphic design experience can design a banner. And even if you have no experience, your supplier can point you in the right direction, or even design your banner for a small charge.

Here are some things to watch for when designing a vinyl banner...

1. Use software that handles CMYK full color output. There are at least three kinds of software you can use:

- Image editors like Photoshop, PhotoPaint, or PhotoImpact

- Page Layout programs like Quarkxpress, Pagemaker, or InDesign

- Illustration programs like Illustrator or CorelDraw

Generally speaking, programs that are designed for consumers or general office applications are not recommended: e.g., Word, Wordperfect, Publisher, Excel, etc. If you have a specific inquiry, don't hesitate to ask your vinyl banners supplier. A good source of information is your contact person at your vinyl banners supplier.

2. Keep your vinyl banner design simple and striking. The best designs contain two or three basic elements. Usually these will be a photograph, a large headline, and an "identifier" such as your company name, logo, or phone number.

3. Use bright colors. The most striking vinyl banners have lots of bright colors.

4. Design your vinyl banner so it is readable for your target audience. If it is going on a building or beside a road on a fence, or on an outfield fence at a baseball or soccer field, MAKE SURE YOUR MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE IS LARGE ENOUGH TO BE READ.

5. Make sure your images have sufficient resolution. For some advice on image resolution, see the Vinyl Banners FAQ.

6. Make sure your vinyl banner fits the area where you're going to mount it. Don't guess at the size. Most people who are not familiar with signage will UNDERESTIMATE the required size.

7. Consider alternative methods of mounting your vinyl banner. Grommets are the "default" method of mounting a banner on a wall or fence. But often "pole pockets" are simpler and more efficient.

The Web Design Process Easy To Understand

The best thing that can be done for web design is to leave it to the designers! That is what a lot of folks particularly internet marketers like me believe about the web design process.
When you visit a large web design company the chances are they outsource the work to a freelance website designer just like I do in the majority of cases. You may have a current web site design project, you may be updating an existing site, or just interested in learning new skills. If so then this article will help you with your web design process decision making.
When your field of expertise includes nothing related to computers or the Internet, defining what you need in a web design can feel burdensome. However, I was tired of running behind companies, waiting for their updates on my website design. You must first develop a strategic plan and design your web site accordingly. Prior to designing your web site, you must have a clear understanding as to exactly what it takes to succeed. But these goals are nearly impossible to achieve without learning the rules that govern Web site design. Look for books on web page and web design. Use the web - there are thousands of sites that have tutorials and explanations of every aspect of web site design and implementation.
Set the right mood in your web design with great color! The design of your website is an integral part of the marketing process. Without a visually appealing, content rich, search engine friendly website design, your business is miles behind. Insert desired texts, your logo design, change button names if needed and the website is ready to use. You designed your web site for your needs, not their needs. An effective elegant website design tells your business' sales story in a simple, straightforward manner. But don't get me wrong: there is nothing wrong with "pushing the envelope" of Web site design. The use of high quality animation for web design involves file size optimization and professional development techniques to enable fast downloading and compatibility. With this deeper understanding, you will be able to apply more integrated design practices to their everyday work. Your multimedia flash website is no more at the mercy of your web designer. You can have your own ecommerce store, including advanced ecommerce website design.
Take advantage of the best of dynamic Web design, enabling you to design, develop, and maintain exceptional standards-based Web sites. This makes the design of a ecommerce website even easier. The whole process of website development is in a phased manner, thereby reducing any chances of any discrepancy while designing your website. Putting together a web site is a unique blend of publishing, user interface design, and technology. There are arguments for doing your website design in-house. It is difficult enough trying to find a web design company with these skills, let alone finding the talent in-house. However web design, search engine optimization and copywriting is a very specialized area. Design isn't only what you see, it's also what you think and feel as you navigate a Web site. Sure, learning HTML is an important part of designing a successful web site

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/the-web-design-process-easy-to-understand-3285338.html#ixzz1E52nDuDL
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Design This, Design That

There is a common misconception that design is all encompassing. That designing for the web is the same process as designing for print. This couldn't be further from the truth, for several reasons. You might as well be comparing apples to oranges. Both are fruits and that's about it.

This article will explain a few of the very basic differences between the two. The usage for your design will determine how you need to set up your document and which software is best suited for the project.

1. Ruler Measurements: This is probably the utmost basic of differences between document setup of print vs. web design projects.
Web: Generally when designing for web, width and height measurements are in pixels since this is the measurement that browsers understand and how the monitor area space is measured. A good analogy would be pixels on a monitor being golf balls in a bucket.

Print: When designing for print, the final outcome will be tangible. Obviously we measure the width and height of tangible objects in inches (or mm if you live anywhere outside of the US ;) So when designing for print we set up the document in inches so that the final outcome is reproduced accurately.
2. Color Mode: Choosing your color mode is very important. Especially if you're designing for print. This one simple setting can help you avoid making a costly mistake when sending your project to print. You should always check with your printer for file specifications before beginning your design.
Web: The native color mode for televisions monitors is RGB which is a color model based on 3 primary "additive" colors, Red, Green, and Blue, being mixed at different levels to create a wide array of colors.

As bright and vibrant as a design piece may look on your computer in RGB color mode, odds are when printed the colors will shift because the printer cannot always replicate every color in the RGB color space.

Print: Most printers today rely on the CMYK color mode. CMYK is made up of "subtractive" primary colors; Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, and Black. When designing for a printed piece, the design at one point or another will have to be converted to this CMYK color mode.

This conversion can result in unwanted shifts in color. The majority of color shifts occur in your brighter more vibrant colors as they tend to dull or flatten because the printer is unable to replicate the RGB color used.

That's not to say that you can't print bright or vibrant colors, it just takes a different mixture of color to do it. It's worth noting that a good portion of full color photographs will convert to CMYK without much color shift.

It is not uncommon to perform color correction after conversion to help retrieve the vibrancy the RGB color model produced. Even though the brightness and vibrancy can be adjusted, the specific color shade or tint may not always be replicated after conversion.
3. Resolution: This one is a biggie. Resolution is an important factor in both print and web design as each has its own standards and optimal setting for the best results for the intended use of the final design piece.

This is where those with no design background can get a little confused. I know as a web and print designer I've been asked a number of times to use images from the web for print. Why doesn't this work? Well it's like this:
Web: A monitor is only capable of producing 72 dpi (dots per inch) so this has become the web standard for images you find online. The fact that the monitor can only produce 72 dpi is actually a good thing because using this resolution helps to keep the file size low. The higher the resolution of an image, the larger the file size, the longer it takes to load.

The downfall of designing in 72 dpi is that the image will not produce a high quality print, especially if it has to be enlarged for the print project. The image can be greatly degraded, blurred, and pixilated making for a very amateurish unprofessional design when printed.

Print: When it comes to choosing a resolution for printing, this can vary. The general standard is 300 dpi to produce a high quality print. 300 dpi is a happy medium between a high quality print as well as moderate file size.

It is possible to crash a print server if your final print job has an extremely large file size so designing in resolutions higher than 300 dpi are not very common for the majority of printing needs.

The advantage of using high resolution 300 dpi images is that they can always be scaled down to the 72 dpi used in web design without loss of image quality. This makes print quality images usable for web design, but usually not the other way around, web to print.
Conclusion: As you can see there are some very basic fundamental differences between web and print design. These seemingly small differences can have a huge impact on the quality, effectiveness, and functionality of your finished design project.

Generally a web designers' primary software of choice is Photoshop. Print designers use Photoshop as well, but Illustrator is usually the software of choice for its scalability without loss of image quality (that's a whole other post we'll get into at a later date)

Are you a print or web designer? Do you have examples of how your field differs from the other and is often misunderstood by clients or employers? Leave us a comment and tell us about it!

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/design-this-design-that-3658923.html#ixzz1E52AgM2T
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Applying Photoshop Magic on Your Brochures

Do you want your brochure designs to look better and greater than they were before? Well then, before you go on to send your designs to the brochure printer, try doing several tweaking first.

In this article we have listed down a few little Adobe Photoshop magic tricks that will see your brochure printing

designs improve and becoming more eye catching. Just follow the tips below and see if you may want to do this in your brochures.

Enhancing your images – The first little Photoshop magic that you can do is to enhance your images. Enhancing your graphics, makes them look more vibrant and basically more attractive to readers. They will engage more with the pictures and hopefully get the dominant feeling out of them.

You can improve your images for your color brochures by simply adjusting the true color values and the brightness and contrast settings of the image. In addition, if there are errors in the images like splotches, or even image elements that you do not want see, you can easily erase these elements with the eraser tool and the clone tool in Photoshop.

Adding filter effects – Also, to add a more general effect to the whole brochure, you can try adding some filters into certain design elements. You can make your pictures look like posters, sketches or paintings using special artistic filters in Photoshop.

You can also add in some softening effects, blurs to text, and images to make the brochures look lighter and softer. There are also filter effects to make things look grainy or distorted, if you want to add a little bit of personality in your brochure designs. Doing these effects makes the brochure unique and interesting so make sure to try these filters out.

Making the text come out – Now, with regards to your text content one of the best ways to make them come out is by using some blending options. You can add in shadows into your text to make them look like they were lifted off the page.

Embossing effects can make 3D shadows for the text making them look three-dimensional. Glowing effects can make the text shine and come out, while texture fills can make your brochure text look like it was made out of a certain material. Playing with these blending options can really make your text more interesting. So if you want to emphasize some of your text and titles, try using this kind of magic.

Fiddling with your backgrounds –l Finally, one of the best subtle design magic that you can use for your brochures are texture effects in your background. While others are content in just a color background, in Photoshop, you can add in texture effects to make the background look more real with a certain type of material.

For example, you can make your brochure background look like it was made from satin, sand, brick and many other texture effects. You can even download special textures if you really want to customize the background. Adding textures to your background is a great way to enhance your brochure theme and it is one of the best ways to complete a well-made brochure design.

Therefore, those are just some of the Photoshop magic that you can use for your color brochures. Try some of these out and see what they can do to improve your brochure designs. Good luck!

Article Tags: Photoshop Magic, Brochure Designs, Them Look, Texture Effects

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katie Marcus writes useful information about brochure printer and brochure printing .

Applying Photoshop Magic on Your Brochures

Do you want your brochure designs to look better and greater than they were before? Well then, before you go on to send your designs to the brochure printer, try doing several tweaking first.

In this article we have listed down a few little Adobe Photoshop magic tricks that will see your brochure printing designs improve and becoming more eye catching. Just follow the tips below and see if you may want to do this in your brochures.

Enhancing your images – The first little Photoshop magic that you can do is to enhance your images. Enhancing your graphics, makes them look more vibrant and basically more attractive to readers. They will engage more with the pictures and hopefully get the dominant feeling out of them.

You can improve your images for your color brochures by simply adjusting the true color values and the brightness and contrast settings of the image. In addition, if there are errors in the images like splotches, or even image elements that you do not want see, you can easily erase these elements with the eraser tool and the clone tool in Photoshop.

Adding filter effects – Also, to add a more general effect to the whole brochure, you can try adding some filters into certain design elements. You can make your pictures look like posters, sketches or paintings using special artistic filters in Photoshop.

You can also add in some softening effects, blurs to text, and images to make the brochures look lighter and softer. There are also filter effects to make things look grainy or distorted, if you want to add a little bit of personality in your brochure designs. Doing these effects makes the brochure unique and interesting so make sure to try these filters out.

Making the text come out – Now, with regards to your text content one of the best ways to make them come out is by using some blending options. You can add in shadows into your text to make them look like they were lifted off the page.

Embossing effects can make 3D shadows for the text making them look three-dimensional. Glowing effects can make the text shine and come out, while texture fills can make your brochure text look like it was made out of a certain material. Playing with these blending options can really make your text more interesting. So if you want to emphasize some of your text and titles, try using this kind of magic.

Fiddling with your backgrounds –l Finally, one of the best subtle design magic that you can use for your brochures are texture effects in your background. While others are content in just a color background, in Photoshop, you can add in texture effects to make the background look more real with a certain type of material.

For example, you can make your brochure background look like it was made from satin, sand, brick and many other texture effects. You can even download special textures if you really want to customize the background. Adding textures to your background is a great way to enhance your brochure theme and it is one of the best ways to complete a well-made brochure design.

Therefore, those are just some of the Photoshop magic that you can use for your color brochures. Try some of these out and see what they can do to improve your brochure designs. Good luck!

Article Tags: Photoshop Magic, Brochure Designs, Them Look, Texture Effects

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katie Marcus writes useful information about brochure printer and brochure printing .

How to Achieve Picture Perfect Shots via Digital Photography

By: Trixter Marketing

Gone are the times when photographers had to take several shots of an image and develop them to find out if a fine or even perfect image was taken. Several photographers of this art form refer to this technique as ?trial and error?.

Gone are the times when photographers had to take several shots of an image and develop them to find out if a fine or even perfect image was taken. Several photographers of this art form refer to this technique as ?trial and error?.

Nowadays, there are a numbers of photographers who have decided to shift from regular point and shoot and old SLR models to digital ones. Through DSLRs, they can get more time to concentrate in taking those great pictures since images that are not par with their standards can simply be deleted away.

SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex. The name implies the use of lenses and a mirror. Mirror reflects light entering the lens up into the viewfinder. Thus, a photographer can estimate how the image will likely appear when it is developed. Moreover, a SLR camera uses separate lenses that can be interchanged depending on the resolution needed. Hence, this camera can be used to capture image with varying depths.

Likewise, a digital SLR or DSLR camera uses lenses and mirror. But instead of a film that records the image, a DSLR camera uses light sensor chips and digital memory. In other words, a DSLR camera is the computerized version of the traditional SLR camera.



However, the functions of these models are rather different so it is suggested that users spend time getting familiar or acquainted with these gadgets. Owners should use that ?trial and error? technique by taking a few shots and storing better pictures. Sooner or later, users can surely hack these models.



Individuals who decide on using these types of cameras should really invest on memory cards and lenses. Thus, if they happen to become professionals someday, additional equipment will surely keep them busy for choosing photography as a career.



Here are some helpful tips that will definitely aid owners of DSLR cameras in capturing a perfect image using the new art of digital photography.



1. Normally, people take full body shots against a background. However, it is more appropriate to take a shot from shoulders up or an upper body one because image of those in the picture really appear small.



2. If doing the above technique happens to be difficult for the user, he or she can take a shot of the person with him or her at one side rather than at the center. Then the owner can just zoom in so the person appears to be at the center.



3. The law of optics remains the same whether using an old or a digital camera. For instance, if the sun is behind an image, the picture will be silhouette. If light is in front of the image, the picture will appear squint unless there are sunglasses on.



4. Use your sunglass to act as a polarizer to take away unnecessary reflections from glaring objects.



5. You can also use a sunglass to increase the exposure of objects.



6. When using a polarizer, be sure that the source of light is perpendicular to the object.



7. Change your white balance setting from auto to cloudy when shooting bright landscapes and outdoor portraits.



8. Do not use the flash mode when the setting is already sunny.



9. Zoom in to emphasize a certain asset or characteristic of the subject being captured.



10. Practice. Practice. Practice.



It suffices to say that the techniques in getting the perfect shot have not changed. However, using digital cameras and employing this new art of digital photography have simply improved photo shooting by making capturing pictures easy for everyone.



In other words, practice is what really makes perfect shots!

Article Source: http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit

Trixter Marketing Reviews For information on how to make money fromyour digital photos go here:- http://www.productsupplycenter.com/web341763

Photography School Reviews By: Andrew Holloway

"Any good photography is a successful synthesis of technique and art." - Andreas Feininger

This article will attempt to help you come to a clearer understanding of the photography schools and colleges available, what they can offer you in terms of photo and arts education, and guide you towards investigating more about specific schools and where you can find out more information.

Photography SchoolsPhotography is a wonderful choice when it comes to a career. Photography is a versatile path that allows you to specify within the degree, and move from different types of photography within your lifetime. From magazine covers to exotic locations to local newspapers, a career in photography will allow you to pick and choose exactly what you want to photograph. However, a career in photography doesn't happen with well wishes and hopes...you have to work to get there! So where do you begin in your search for photography schools? Right here!

You'll have to learn about the photography business, learn how to deal with copyright issues and information, manage your photo porfolio and how to work with others in the field. There are many courses in the field of photography taught at many of the schools, teaching you in a variety of areas including:


Photographic equipment
Photographic processes
Photograph techniques
Color theory
Special skills
Digital imaging and photo processing


There are many many more fields available when it comes to your career path in photography, the above were simply some examples.

If you're passionate about photography and want to pursue this versatile career, it's important that you take the time to learn from experienced professionals that can guide you in your efforts to pursue professional photography, motion picture and video photography, visual journalism, and thinks like visual communications. What's great about attending photography schools nationwide is that you dont' have to begin an expert, you begin a beginner! Many of you are pursuing this field because you have a natural eye for photography, and that's great - but maybe you're just developing one. That's great too! What you probably didn't know is that photography school will teach you much more than simply how to snap a few brief pictures and dip em in developer. They teach you the scientific processes of film, chemistry, optics, color theory, lighting rations, and digital and computer skills.

You'll also find collegues and students at your school that share your passion, talents, and skill and want to join in mutual efforts to further your careers. Here are a few photography school frequently asked questions that might help you!


What is the objective of many photography schools?
What types of photography might I choose to go into?
What type of school should I look for?
What are some of the top schools in the US?


What is the objective of many photography schools?
The objective (or the objective I believe is crucial to selecting a school) of many is to develop photographers that are technically and professionally sound, enabling them to pursue any photographic field and compete in the job marketplace.

What types of photography might I choose to go into?
There are many different types of photography fields, including fasion photography, digital photography, advertising photography, editorial photography, documentary style, wedding photography, portrait photography, or photo technician style work. You'll be prepared to do any of these with a solid education at a photo college or school.

What type of school should I look for?
My recommendation is a school that teaches nothing but photography! Obviously affordability is important, but a photo only institute is a great way to go!

What are some of the top schools in the US?
There are several wonderful photography schools, but some of ones we'll choose to highlight are Brooks Institute of Photography and the Art Institute of Colorado. For a more detailed list of Photography schools and information, please click here or continue browsing this article.

Brooks is a world leader when it comes to visual arts and photographic education. You'll want to find a photography school that helps to meet career oriented needs that you establish before you search. You'll want one with experience in the field for a long period of time, not just a hokey internet college.

You want want that can offer you a chance to broaden your resume through internships and opportunities. The joy of this career is that you get to turn your photographic ambition into something that pays the bills and you love to do every single day! Who wouldn't want that! I hope this article has proved even a little helpful, and that you'll consider going into the wonderful field of photography!

Author Bio
Andy is the owner of YouSeekIt.com, an article resource site, and this article can be found here: www.youseekit.com/Arts/Photography_Schools.html

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Understanding Levels and Curves Output Values By Les Meehan Platinum Quality Author

In a different article I explained how to use the INPUT values of the Photoshop Levels and Curves dialogs. In that article I didn't discuss the OUTPUT values other than to say that the default values are 255 for the white slider and 0 for the black slider.

The OUTPUT values can be used to lighten dark tones or to darken light tones. This can be used to reduce the overall contrast of a photograph. In the Curves dialog, if you drag the black end point at the left of the graph upwards you will increase the value of the black output above the default of 0 (zero). Conversely, if you drag the white end point at the right of the graph downwards, you will reduce the value of the white output to less than the default of 255. This has the effect of lowering the contrast of the photograph you are editing. This is similar but opposite of using the Input values.

However, the OUTPUT values also have a more important function - they help you to calibrate your printer! When we print an image the image data is interpreted by the printer and this can lead to the all too common problem of the print NOT matching the screen image. The problem is that the printer has its own 'contrast range' and this might be, and often is, less than the contrast of the screen image.

What this means is that the printer may well print some of the more subtle tones of the image, i.e. shadows with values of 5, 6, 7 up to say 15 as solid black and the lightest tones of 250, 251, up to 254 as solid white. The result would be a print that had more contrast and less detail than the screen image.

The solution is to make some test prints using a grey scale of tones (i.e. a set of patches of various tone values) from black through to white. The tonal values of each patch should change in value by say 3 or 5 in both the darkest and lightest parts. The middle tones can change using greater differences in values, e.g. units of 10, since they are not so important for this calibration. Print this scale on your printer with your usual paper(s). You should test each paper you use because the paper will affect the visible contrast range.

Now, compare the print to the screen and find the tone value patch on the printed scale that is completely black and the one that is completely white. For example, you may have dark tones in the grey scale screen image of say 0 (black), 5, 10, 15, 20 and light tones of say 250, 252, 254, and 255 (white).

When looking at your test print, if there is no visible difference between the dark patches of the scale with values of 5, 10 and black (i.e. the tones of 5 and 10 are pure black in the print) this indicates your printer will interpret a dark tone of value 10 and lower as pure black.

Conversely, looking at the lightest tones, if the tones with values 252 and above are showing as paper white this indicates your printer will print anything above 252 as pure white. Good, now we know the limits of contrast the printer can produce. In this example any tone darker than 10 will print as pure black and any tone lighter than 252 will print as pure white.

Now we can use the OUTPUT values of the Curves dialog to compensate for this printer/paper contrast. Using our example, we now know that any tone with a value of 10 or lower will be black in the print. In other words, the BLACK POINT of the PRINTER is 10. So, to compensate we need to set the OUTPUT value of the black slider in the Curves dialog to the value 10. This will lighten the shadows in the screen image (and probably make it look dull) BUT when you print the image the printer will lower the values down again to where you want them.

The same happens for the lighter tones. The printer will produce any value above 252 as paper white (no ink), so we need to set the OUTPUT value of the white slider in the Curves dialog to 252. This will lower the values of the light tones in the screen image BUT the printer will raise them back up on the print! You now understand enough about the Levels and Curves OUTPUT values to allow you to adjust the screen image to match the contrast capabilities of your printer and paper. The visual result on screen doesn't matter!

Now you can go on to learn more skills in Photoshop by joining me, and other like minded folk, for FREE at Zone2Tone Members and after you join us you will receive a free professional quality video tutorial.

Copyright (c) Les Meehan 2010.

Les Meehan is the author of seven published digital photography books and as a qualified instructor has been teaching workshops for over 20 years.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Les_Meehan

Understanding Levels and Curves Input Values By Les Meehan Platinum Quality Author

When you set the INPUT value in the Levels or Curves dialog either by dragging the black or white triangular sliders or typing a value directly into the Input box, you are telling Photoshop to change all of the pixels in the image that have this new tone value so that they match the default OUTPUT value. For example, when you move the white slider in the Curves dialog to 250, you are basically saying "I want all the pixels with the value 250 AND HIGHER (i.e. the range 250 to 255) to have the same value as shown in the OUTPUT box."

Since the default OUTPUT value is 255 for white, all of the pixels in the image with a value of 250 or higher will be made to be pure white (value 255). The other light tones in the image will also become lighter. The same is true for the black slider. When you move the black slider you set the INPUT value which will change all of the pixels with this value AND LOWER equal to the default OUTPUT value which is 0 (i.e. black). For example, if you move the black slider or set the black INPUT value to 25, all of the pixels with a value of 25 or lower will be made equal to the output value of 0 (black). This will also cause all of the shadow tones also to darken.

You are actually setting the upper and lower limit values of the white and black tones in the image which in this example would increase the overall contrast of the image. So, if you have a low contrast image that hasn't got a black tone and hasn't got a white tone, you would normally be saying "OK, the darkest tone in this image has, say, a value of 20 BUT this is not true black and I want it to be black. Right, so I need to set the INPUT value of the black slider to 20 and leave the OUTPUT value at 0."

This will change the value of the selected tone from 20 to 0 thus increasing the depth of the shadow tones. Note that all the tones in the dark areas will be lowered in value proportionally. You now have either a Levels or Curves tone adjustment that has 'mapped' the value of 20 down to 0. Working with the lighter tones now, let's say the lightest tone in this same image has a value of 230 (a light grey tone, typical of low contrast photos). Now let's assume we want the image to have a pure white. So, we need to change the value of this tone from 230 so that it looks white (value 255). Using the Levels or Curves adjustment dialog we move the white slider until the INPUT value is 230 and leave the OUTPUT value at the default of 255. This will change all the tones with a value of 230 so they have the new value of 0 (zero) which will change them to become white in the image.

The result of these two changes to the black and white input values will be that you have increased the image contrast to make it fill the full tonal range and appear more 'normal'. Now you understand how the Input values in the Levels and Curves dialogs work and how to use them to correct a low contrast photograph.

Now you can go on to learn more skills in Photoshop by joining me, and other like minded folk, for FREE at Zone2Tone Members and after you join us you will receive a free professional quality video tutorial.

Copyright (c) Les Meehan 2010.

Les Meehan is the author of seven published digital photography books and as a qualified instructor has been teaching workshops for over 20 years.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Les_Meehan

Working With the Pen Tool in Photoshop By Kevin M. Sugrue Platinum Quality Author

Photoshop has multiple pen tools. The standard pen tool draws with the greatest precision. The freeform pen tool draws paths as if you were drawing with pencil on paper, and the magnetic pen option lets you draw a path that snaps to the edges of defined areas in your image. You can use the pen tools along with the shape tools to create complex shapes. When you use the standard pen tool, the following options are available in the options bar:

• Auto Add/Delete lets you add an anchor point when you click a line segment or delete an anchor point when you click it.

• Rubber Band lets you preview path segments as you drag between clicks.

Before drawing with the Pen tool, you can create a new path in the Paths palette to automatically save the work path as a named path.

The easiest path you can draw with the pen tool is a straight line. Click the pen tool and create two anchor points. By continuing to click, you create a path made of straight line segments connected by corner points.

Let's try it. Select the pen tool. Position the pen tool where you want the path to begin, and click to define the first anchor point (do not drag). The first segment you draw will not be visible until you click a second anchor point. If you select the rubber band option to preview path segments and direction lines appear, you've accidentally dragged the pen tool. Choose Edit > Undo, and click again. When you are finished, click again where you want the segment to end (Shift-click to constrain the angle of the segment to a multiple of 45°). Continue clicking to set anchor points for additional straight segments. The last anchor point you add always appears as a solid square, indicating that it is selected. Previous anchor points become hollow, and deselected, as you add more anchor points. In order to complete the path, position the pen tool over the first anchor point. A small circle appears next to the pen tool pointer when it is positioned correctly. Click or drag to close the path.

You can also create curved lines with the pen tool. Create a curve by adding an anchor point where a curve changes direction, and dragging the direction lines that shape the curve. The length and slope of the lines determine the shape of the curve. Drawing curves with as few anchor points as possible makes them easier to edit and your system can display and print them faster. Using too many points can also produce unwanted bumps in a curve. To prevent this, draw widely spaced anchor points, and practice shaping curves by adjusting the length and angles of the direction lines.

Let's practice. First, select the pen tool. Next, position the pen tool where you want the curve to begin and hold down the mouse button. The first anchor point appears, and the pen tool pointer changes to an arrowhead. The pointer changes after you start dragging. Drag to set the slope of the curved segment then release the mouse button. Extend the direction line about one third of the distance to the next anchor point you plan to draw. You can later adjust one or both sides of the direction line. If you wish to constrain the tool to multiples of 45°, hold down the shift key.

This article is written by Kevin M. Sugrue and is an extract from part of 'The Essentials of Drawing in Photoshop' Ebook. For more go to [http://www.tutorialhell.com/ebooks]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_M._Sugrue

How to Compress Commercial Photographs for use on Websites

Taking professional photographs isn’t just about pictures for printing. In the digital age many people want photos for use on the Internet on websites, and altering your pictures for use on the Internet can be tricky and requires the correct software.

When you have selected the photographs that you want from your commercial photographer, you should get them on a CD so that you can load them onto a computer for editing.

One of the best pieces of software for editing creative photography is Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop allows you to alter, touch up, repair or even completely recompose your photos as you wish.

Your first step should be to open Photoshop and load your first photograph. When you’re saving pictures for use on the Internet they should be in RGB mode, whereas photographs for print are CMYK. You can change the mode of your pictures by selecting ‘image’ and then ‘mode’.

You also need to make sure that your photo is the correct size for the Internet as most print quality photographs you’ll receive on CD from commercial photographers are print quality, and as such are too big for the Internet. You should select ‘image’ and then ‘size’ from the menu in Photoshop and change the resolution of your image to 72dpi, or pixels per inch. This means dots per inch. 72dpi is too low quality for print, but for the Internet it is perfect as browsers won’t show images at a higher resolution, so any print quality images uploaded to the Internet will be too big and the quality will be wasted anyway.

When you have selected 72dpi, check that the image width and height aren’t too big in pixels. Most screen resolutions are no bigger than 1024 pixels wide, so if your photo is bigger than that it will be too large. If you’re uploading a photograph to a website, then a size closer to 800x600 pixels will be suitable. This will ensure that your photo is still of a high quality, yet is small enough to upload quickly and be viewed by other people.

Next you can check that your photograph doesn’t need any ‘corrections’ to remove the imperfections, such as spots, red-eye or other blemishes that professional models always have attended to with their photos from commercial photographers. You can remove any blemishes by using the magnifying glass and zooming in on any imperfect area, before taking the ‘clone’ tool from your tools menu and selecting a sample of perfect skin. You can then seamlessly copy this perfect sample over the imperfect area.

This technique could also be used to repair old photographs that have been torn, by scanning them into your computer and ‘cloning’ the perfect parts over the tears.

Once you are happy with your picture you can export it for use on the Internet. Choose the ‘save for web’ option to save your photograph. Here you will be presented with options such as reducing the quality to reduce the file size. Use the slider bar until you are satisfied that your photo looks good but the file is nice and small. Select ‘JPG’ as the file format and save your picture.

You are now ready to upload your photograph to a website and have an example of creative photography at its finest.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

Quality Conversions of Photoshop Files

The software ‘Photoshop’ is used all over the world. It is used by web designers, professional photographers and even by amateurs. Photoshop is an editing program which also helps to create bitmaps. All Photoshop files are made up of high quality and hence, people have difficulty in converting the PSD files to HTML, XHTML, CSS, Word press. The conversions show an inferior quality of bitmaps and the respective photographs in concern. Hence, it becomes a matter of concern for the professionals to obtain quality and superior prints from the PSD to word press, PSD to CSS or any other conversions.

Some softwares provide superior quality prints while converting PSD files to HTML, XHTML, CSS and Word press. The same quality which is seen on the Photoshop files (PSD files) is available when PSD files are converted to CSS, HTML, XHTML and Word press. These quality conversions prove beneficial to the professions who can carry on their work without any problems. It helps them to save time and also get quality work converted from the PSD files to HTML, CSS and other file formats.

It plays a major role while working on web designs, bloggers who want to code their designs and many unlimited advantages which prove advantageous for the design and art professionals. Not many organizations provide these unique benefits to the professional industry.

The software companies make these conversions available to the customers at an economical price. The price is comparatively low, keeping in mind the added benefits which it provides. The clients do not bother about the cost since it proves successful for their business and also assures them of the quality of the conversions.

Since HTML, CSS and a few other software format files occupy less space, they are considered ideal for converting PSD files to CSS, HTML, XHTML or Word press, which helps to ease the work for the professionals so that they can upload their respective designs at a faster pace and save time. It also enables to attract business deals for the professionals.

The unique services provided by these firms are popular among the professional web and photography industry. However, one has to be careful in order to choose the right source, in other words, the right organization to approach to get all the conversions done successfully and also obtain high quality results from them while converting the PSD files to CSS, HTML, XHTML or Word press. Converting files may seem a small issue but gives out rich dividends for its potential clients as well as its dedicated customers.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

A Few Cool Photoshop Tips and Tricks

When it comes to entering the graphic design world, creating interesting pieces for a job or sharing artwork with family and friends, there are plenty of cool Photoshop tips and tricks to consider. Whether you are just experimenting with the tools or already know how to layout a magazine spread, there will always be a new shortcut or trick to make life much easier. Below, you will find a few tips to add to your repertoire or share with others:

Easy Photoshop Tips and Tricks

Have you ever wanted to easily create the image of Earth and dread using the circle tool? There is an easy way to design the world in six steps, which should take less than a minute to complete. First, you should select File/New from the menu bar and create a file size that measures about 200 pixels by 200 pixels. The RGB mode should be selected for this trick. Next, choose a light blue shade for the foreground color and a darker blue for the background color.

Under the Filters tab, select Render, and then choose Clouds. The scene that will greet you should look a lot like the sky. It is the clouds filter that utilizes the foreground and background colors needed to construct this image in your file. If you desire a different look, you can press Ctrl + F on Windows or Command + F for a Mac to reapply the filter. Each time this key combination is pressed, you will receive a somewhat different outcome.

Now, return to the Filter menu and select Render, and then choose Lighting Effects. Once you enter the Light Effects menu, you are able to alter the shape of the ellipse to a circle that becomes centered on your file. Changing the Narrow setting to 39 next follows choosing the Default Spotlight setting.

Sometimes a Photoshop project calls for texture. There are thousands of backgrounds to create that range from a grainy composition to a multi-faceted mess (depending on the look you are going for). To create a paper texture in Photoshop, you should start a new file that measures 60 x 60 pixels. The color should be in RGB. Next, select the following commands in this same order: Filter, Noise, Add Noise. Once completed, choose Gaussian, which is set to 80%.

The next step to create a paper texture is to select Filter, then Stylize, followed by Emboss. The angle should be set to -50, the Height to 2 pixels, and the Amount to 70%. The background will now resemble a gray embossed selection. To change the color, choose Image, then Adjust, followed by Hue-Saturation-Brightness. Once you select the Colorize checkbox, you should set the Hue to a different setting. To gain your personal preference, you can adjust the contrast.

To create the appearance that objects are glowing without using any filters, choose an object to work with that will be duplicated as a layer. First, select the color you'd like your glow to be. After choosing the lower duplicate, click on Edit from the menu, then Stroke. When the Stroke Options appear, the pixel width should be set between 1 and 16. It is important to remember that the larger number you choose, the thicker the glow will appear.

Before exiting, you should glance under Location to make sure that the Outside option is selected. The next step involves applying a Gaussian Blur to the layer, which can be found under the Blur option in Filters. This will soften the glow applied to the layer. Some individuals even repeat the process to create a double glow, which is some cases, can really make an image stand out.

What Can You Do With Advanced Photoshop Tips and Tricks?

Advanced Photoshop users are often familiar with all tools and have mastered most of the fundamental tutorials, tips, and tricks, such as creating a cloudy background. Some people are unaware of all of the cool tricks that Photoshop has to offer, especially when you've upgraded your version to CS. The power to create some of the most impressive works of digital art are only a few clicks away once you get a hang of advanced Photoshop shortcuts and tricks.

Some Photoshop tricks on the advanced level can help a more tedious project seem easier. The more you learn the tips and tricks of the trade, the better your overall creations will turn out. To get an idea of some of the advanced tricks associated with Photoshop, a few examples are mentioned below:

Photoshop allows advanced users to create digital comic coloring that looks just like the human hand penned it. The tricks and tips associated with this sort of higher-level design deals with the manipulation of various brush sets to achieve the look you desire. Photoshop also lets users create photomontages that can transform an original photograph into something much different.

There are also tips and tricks that can take your most unfavorite picture and alter it in any way you wish. Let's say you want to change a regular photograph into something dazzling. Advanced Photoshop tricks can beautify a face that displays a natural appearance. In regards to a photo, skin can be fixed, blemishes and wrinkles erased, teeth fixed and whitened, as well as changes made to the eyebrows, hair, and eyes.

When one is able to master advanced Photoshop techniques, the creative possibilities seem never-ending, including 3D glass balls, planet and star-studded skies, matte paintings, and airbrushed illustrations.

Source: Free Articles

The Concept Behind CSS By: Jose Valdez

What is The Concept Behind CSS?

The concept behind CSS (a.k.a. cascading style sheets or style sheets) is really simple. CSS allows you to create a single document of code, similar to an HTML file, that lets you specify the colors, fonts, backgrounds, etc. of a web page. The CSS file is then linked to from the web page(s) that you want to have the same styles that you specify.

CSS allows you to make changes to all of the web pages that link to the CSS file at once by changing a style in the style sheet, instead of having to manually change every style in every HTML file.

If CSS did this and only this, they would save you a lot of time to say the least, especially if you have a large or multiple web sites. This alone is worth learning CSS, however, style sheets allow you to do this and much more.

CSS also allows you to:

• position text and graphics precisely where you want to

• add rollover effects to links

• control the spacing between letters, lines, margins, web page borders

• specify the units such as centimeters, pixels, points and more

• hide content from certain web browsers in certain situations. An example of this is when you have some content that you want to appear only in your web pages, but not in print.

Some Benefits of CSS

• Your web pages load faster because there is less code to transfer

• There is less code to type

• It is easier to have a consistent look and feel to your entire web site

• Updating and maintaining websites is much easier and less time consuming

In the end, CSS can save you a lot of time and effort and is very easy to learn.

Author Bio
Jose Valdez is the webmaster of FreeCSSTutoria.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com - Free Website Content

Photoshop Cutouts and Photo Artwork for Adobe Photoshop Beginners

Using Photoshop cutouts to make photo artwork is probably the most desired skill for Adobe Photoshop Beginners (and Adobe Photoshop Elements beginners). Beginners to the program or people who have never used Adobe Photoshop want to make photo artwork by combining multiple pictures together for graphic art, collages, or just for fun. Using Photoshop to cutout pictures is not only a desired skill, but required for most of this basic photo artwork.

If you are one of the Adobe Photoshop beginners, there is good news! Learning how to use Photoshop to cutout pictures is not very difficult to learn, and with a little practice it can be mastered to help you make amazing photo artwork. If you have tried your hand at photo cutouts, you may be wondering what the tips and tricks are to get rid of jagged corners and rough edges to your cutout images. Why do the images in all the professional photo artwork look so smooth?

For the Adobe Photoshop beginners (Photoshop Elements included), let us start with the basics - and there are certainly enough basic tips to get you going without any super advanced techniques. For Photoshop cutouts - such as a person - from an image, you will want to use the lasso tool. There is a basic lasso tool, a magnetic lasso tool, and a polygonal lasso tool. For precise photo artwork cutouts, we will disregard the basic lasso tool and focus just on the magnetic and polygonal lassos. I primarily use the polygonal lasso but the magnetic is great if your image has very defined borders (against the backdrop) and if you do not want to spend a lot of time for cutting out images. It will attract itself to what it can see as the edge of your preferred cutout image, based on contrasting colors and shapes.

So are you ready to make photo artwork with Photoshop cutout techniques? With your image selected, zoom in to a range of around 150-300% so you can clearly see the image to be cutout. Select the polygonal lasso tool and take your time to select points around the edges of your image. For example, on a person take extra time around the face, ears, fingers, etc. When you get all the way around the image, connect the last point with the first point until the cutout is selected. This is where many people are left with jagged edges in their artwork. Right-clicking will give you many different options and a "Layer via copy" will create a new Photoshop cutout layer with exactly what you cutout (often with a few rough corners.) Instead, an easy way to create a smooth photo cutout is by using the feathering technique.

Selecting the Feather option will bring up an option of how many pixels you want to feather - or blur - around your selection. How precise you want your photo cut out and the size of the image will determine how many pixels you want to choose, and experience will help you to know (remember you can undo any action quickly!). After you feather, you can then use the "Layer via copy" action. If you are Photoshop beginner, try this technique and use a feathering of about 2-10 pixels and look at the result. Chances are it will be a smooth cutout that can be part of your new collage, illustration, or photo artwork.

Feathering is an integral part of skills needed for Adobe Photoshop beginners and can be used for cutouts, blending images, and combining photos. This basic technique for mastering the essentials of Photoshop cutouts is very simple and can be added to by a variety of techniques that you can explore at your own leisure. Once you know the fundamentals behind photo cutouts and feathering, you will learn to have all sorts of fun creating photo artwork in Photoshop!

About the Author

Michael is the creator and owner of CustomPhotoCollage.com. A longtime Photoshop expert, Michael creates unique, personalized photo collages at http://www.CustomPhotoCollage.com.