Photoshop Gradient Map Tutorials for Beginners

One of the most useful Photoshop adjustment layer is the Gradient Map that you can use to enhance your photos. You can use a gradient map as a non invasive method in which you can change the color map of your image, adding multiple color effects. Using Photoshop gradients(GRD files) you can create virtually unlimited number of color effects.
I will start this tutorial by saying that I am not a Photoshop master so I get a little confused sometimes; for example in this tutorial I will explain for all the Photoshop beginners a quick way to enhance a photo by using a Gradient Map. As you will see if you open the fill or adjustment layer tab we have to gradient options: the Gradient (Fill) and the Gradient Map; so the question is which one to choose and use? And of course what is the difference between the two of them. For the first question I will choose the first option, the Gradient (Fill) instead of the Gradient Map. For the second question I have no answer.

Gradient Map and Gradient Fill Adjustment Layers

A Gradient Map is in fact an adjustment layer that can be applied to a layer/multiple layers and to enhance the image result. Learn more about adjustment layers from this tutorial.

So let's start with a beautiful premade background. Add a Gradient adjustment like shown in the image.

Click on the gradient to open the Gradient Editor; there you can change the existing gradient, create one yourself or you can load and use one of the many Photoshop gradients available for free on the internet.

Now set the Blend Mode of the gradient map to Overlay and the opacity 45%

You can play with different gradients and you can obtain beautiful results in just a few minutes using Photoshop gradient map adjustments. In the same way you can use the Gradient Map instead of the Gradient (Fill) and see which of the results suits you best.

A Photo Inside a Photo

In this Photoshop tutorial, we are going to create a photo inside a photo in Photoshop. This effect will bring the main subject of your photo in the spotlight by creating the illusion of a smaller, cropped version of the photo within itself.

1. Open whatever image you would like to work on in Photoshop. This is the image we will be using for creating a photo inside a photo:

2. Duplicate the background layer.

3. Go to: Filter > Blur > Radial Blur and make the following changes:

4. Create a new layer. Name this layer as Photo.

5. Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool to draw in a rectangle.

6.  Right click on the shape and choose Fill Path.

7. Choose 50% Gray and click OK.

8. Double click the Photo layer to open Layer Style.
    Make the following changes:

9. Right click the Photo layer and choose Delete Path.

10. Duplicate the Background layer once again and place it over the Photo layer in the Layer Panel.

11. Right click on the layer thumbnail of this new background layer and choose Radial Blur.

12. Go back to the Photo layer.

13. Press CTRL+T to rotate the Photo layer.

14. Now create an Adjustment layer and choose Curves. Then make the following changes:

That’s it,

Final Picture:

Sin City Style Photoshop Tutorial

Beautifull Sin City Art photoshop effect video tutorial .
Sin City Style Photoshop Tutorial - The best free videos are right here

How to Smooth Skin Without Losing Texture in Photoshop

There are several ways to smooth skin in Photoshop. All to often, however, skin can appear too smooth, fake, and synthetic. Today I will demonstrate a straightforward technique to help you smooth skin fairly quickly while preserving the texture of the pores. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the final image that we will be creating.

Original Image

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the original image.

Step 1

First, open your image and duplicate your background layer. Simply drag the layer onto the new layer icon in the bottom right of the layer palette. Now set the blending mode of this newly created layer to "Vivid Light."

Step 2

Now, let’s invert this layer. Do this by pressing Cmd + I or Image > Adjustments > Invert. Then, apply a Gaussian Blur by selecting Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Applying a blur filter to an inverted picture will make it look shaper. Use the slider until you can see the pores on her face.

Step 3

Now let smooth the skin! Go to Filter > Other >High Pass. Move the slider until you are happy with the smoothing. You may notice some ghosting and other weird stuff around the eyes – just ignore it for now. Concentrate on the cheeks, forehead and nose.

Step 4

Almost done! Create a new mask for the layer and fill it with black to hide the image. Switch your color to white, select the mask and start drawing on the skin with a soft brush. Start at the cheeks, move over to the forehead, the nose and stop on the chin. If the effect is too strong for your liking, just lover the opacity of the brush and you’re good to go!

Final Image

We’re finished! I hope that you learned a few new techniques here. If you have a different approach, let me know in the comments!

AKVIS Sketch Quicktime Transition

In this tutorial, we are going to use AKVIS Sketch with Photoshop (CS4+) to easily create a QuickTime movie that starts out with a sketch and transitions to a full-color photo!
Materials needed:

• Photoshop CS4+;
• AKVIS Sketch (This tutorial assumes you have installed as a plug-in);
• QuickTime plug-in;
• A model photo.

 

Original

 

 Result

Step 1. Start with a model photo.

Step 2. With that layer active, press Ctrl + J (Windows) to quickly make a duplicate. Name the duplicate layer “Sketch.”

Step 3. With the “Sketch” layer still active, go to Filter -> AKVIS -> Sketch.

Call AKVIS Sketch plug-in

Step 4. You will now be taken to the AKVIS Sketch interface. Use the handy presets drop-down to select some nice pre-configured settings. Don’t be afraid to fine-tune the settings. I chose AKVIS Default.

AKVIS Sketch window

Step 5. Click the After tab. Aftera few moments of rendering, you will see how the image will look after the current settings are applied. If you are satisfied, click OK Sign, If not, continue to tweak the settings.

Processed image

Step 6. You will now be back in Photoshop, and the AKVIS Sketch filter will be applied to the “Sketch” layer.

Step 7. Let’s open up the Animation panel. Go to Window -> Animation.

Open up Animation panel

Step 8. If the Animation is in Timeline mode, open up the panel menu and choose Convert to Frame Animation. You will see one frame, and the thumbnail should reflect the active “Sketch” layer.

Panel menu

Step 9. You will see a time delay setting below the frame. Make sure that is set to 0.1 sec. Also, on the bottom left of the Animation panel, the Loop setting should be set to Once.

Frame settings

Step 10. Click Duplicate Selected Frame to make your second frame. Toggle off the visibility icon to the left of the “Sketch” layer in the Layers panel. The second frame in the Animations panel should now reflect the original photo layer.

Duplicate Selected Frame

Step 11. With the second frame still selected, click the Tween icon at the bottom of the Animation panel.

Tween icon

Step 12. A window will appear. Make sure to Tween With: Previous Frame. Set the Frames to Add: 10.

Tweening

Step 13. You will see that 10 frames will be added in between the two initial frames, for a total of 12 frames.

Step 14. Go to File -> Export -> Render Video.

 

Export

Step 15. Name your video, choose your save destination, leave the settings to default (unless you are an expert), and click Render.

Render video

Step 16. You will now have a QuickTime movie that shows your AKVIS Sketch blooming to full photographic beauty!

Final Result

 The author of this tutorial is Andre Villanueva.

How to Make a Timeless WEDDING Photo from a snapshot

Photoshop CS6 tutorial showing how to quickly transform any ordinary snapshot into a golden-hued, timeless image that will last forever. These techniques work especially well for wedding photos.

Ways to become skinny in 3 minutes

How to become skinny in 3 minutes: This is an Old Photoshop work to show the power of this program. This video would show only one of thousand possibility that Photoshop offer to us. After using Photoshop for long time you will have anyway something to learn.

Choose An Entry Level DSLR

People who own a point and shoot camera eventually want to move to having a DSLR. Other reasons could be you want clearer images, you want more control over your camera or you want to become a professional photographer.
Whatever your reason, you can start with having an entry level DSLR. This is lighter than the real DSLR and is more affordable as well.
So first things first. Consider the brand and you have many to choose from - Canon, Fujifilm, Kodak, Nikon, Pentax, Panasonic, Olympus and Sony. Most share the same features but if you often travel and take photos during special occasions, you need to pick a model that's easy to operate but at the same time one that can ensure image quality.

• The brand

For those who are serious in getting into photography, the two famous brand names you should consider are Nikon and Canon. Most, if not all, professional photographers use these brands.

• The sensor

As for the digital camera components, the camera sensor is an important consideration if quality images are your priority. Basically, there are two types of sensors - the CCD and the CMOS. The CMOS is present in the latest cameras today owing to its lower production cost while the older models utilized the CCD which provides better quality photos.

• The body

Consider as well the camera body. This is essential particularly if you have plans of purchasing high-end accessories in the future and because you will need to get accessories such as the lens that match the body.
Most entry level DSLR cameras today have quality plastic bodies. Weather sealing, however, is what gives the higher type or the professional DSLR the edge. Hopefully, this will be made available for the entry level models in the future.

• The material

When it comes to material, you have a choice between getting a metal and a plastic body. There's no doubt that the metal body is more durable and allows for better heat conduction notably while shooting videos. Nikon and Canon manufactures both metal and plastic bodied digital cameras.

• The resolution

Some people often prefer cameras that have bigger megapixels thinking that it will give them better quality images. But this is a misconception.
Do understand that you need a higher megapixel camera only if you would like to print large photos. This is because printing a large size image requires more megapixels to produce clearer and crisper photos. A higher resolution is also ideal if you do extensive post processing of your images such as cropping without affecting the quality.
But if you just want to snap and store photos on your computer and share them online, then a 3.5 to 5 megapixel camera will do.

• The price

The camera's affordability should be an important consideration. Know that you will not only be spending for the camera body alone but for other necessary accessories as well so make sure that you get only what you can afford. Calculating your expenses will help you choose the right entry DSLR camera that fits your lifestyle.

Web Designer and Web Designer Premium

Xara Web Designer is unlike any web design software you will have seen before; an easy template based solution that gives you total page design freedom, no HTML skills required. It comes in 2 versions, Web Designer and Web Designer Premium; Premium offers advanced web and graphic design features - find out more below

• There's no easier solution

The Web Designer approach is simple: You can either create your own page and site designs from scratch with the powerful page layout and design tools or simply:
1) pick your design from the templates
2) customize it with complete freedom
3) publish.
Absolutely no HTML or Javascript skills are required!
Templates include individual web graphics, complete pages and even pre-built multi-page sites.

• A one tool solution

ou only need one program for creating graphical websites - from design to publishing - and that's Web Designer or Web Designer Premium.

Web Designer includes customizable web graphic, webpage and website template designs plus tools for creating your own designs, for photo editing (an integrated ultra-fast, non-destructive photo tool), and for advanced text layout. The Designs Gallery also includes a collection of Widgets. Site upload is covered too and there's even a free web hosting offer!

• Flash & GIF animation

Web Designer Premium is one of the easiest tools for creating truly efficient Flash animations, which you can export as .swf or add to any page being created in Web Designer.

•  Extra Widgets

Web Designer Premium includes a larger selection of Widgets in the Designs Gallery, including the new, resizeable photo and content slideshow Widgets that can help give your website an edge, making them more interesting and dynamic. Plus there's a selection of interactive chart and graph widgets.
Premium also includes a choice of e-commerce Widgets and a neat 'embed a website' Widget - perfect for embedding blogs, microsites and other sites within your page.

•  Website and remote presentations

With Web Designer Premium you can easily create web-based 'slide-show' style presentations, that your website visitors can step through using the keyboard arrow keys. Plus you can apply animated transition effects as each step and page is displayed.
You can also easily remotely host a web meeting (a 'Webinar') to showcase your presentation, step by step and page by page, to a group of invited participants.

•  Animated page and layer transition effects

Web Designer Premium makes it easy to add a wide range of animated effects to the layers and page links in your website. You can add animated transitions to any page link or pop-up layer in your web pages.

• Advanced graphics tools

Web Designer includes many customizable graphic templates of course, and a good set of basic drawing tools, but Premium includes a range of additional graphic creation tools for those who wish to create their own graphics from scratch. These include freehand and quickshape drawing tools, bevel, mould and 3D extrude. Plus additional photo features such as content aware scaling and zooming, and masking, and the Live Effects tool which provides support for Photoshop plugins.

• Download

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Pixelated Portrait Effect

In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to add a subtle and stylish pixelated effect to portrait photographs.

With your photo open in Photoshop, first duplicate it's layer by dragging it to the new layer button at the bottom of the layer's panel.

 

Select the copied layer and go to Filter>Pixelate>Mosaic.

The Cell Size you use will depend on the size of your photo, for this one I've used 25.

Next give the layer a layer mask by clicking on the layer mask button.

Select the Gradient Tool and use a black to white Linear Gradient.

With the layer mask thumbnail selected, draw the gradient horizontally across a small part of the front of the face, or wherever you want the pixels to begin.

Finally set the Layer's blending mode to Hard Light, and take it's Opacity down to 70%.

Here's the Final Result..

Three Ways to Select Your Image in Photoshop

This tutorial will introduce you to three very different and very simple ways to help select your image. Selection is the basis to running it all in Photoshop.

Method No.1. "Edit in Quick Mask Mode"

1. Open an image in Photoshop.

2. Select brush tool and set its size according to what you select on your image. For example, set the brush size to 8 pixels when you select something really tiny.

3. Foreground color must be black.

4. Before applying the brush to your image for selection, click on Edit in Quick Mask Mode. Now your brush is ready for selection. Notice that the areas you apply your brush to turn pink. If your selection goes out, you can fix it by first setting the foreground to white, and then using your brush tool to ‘erase off’ the unwanted selection. To continue your work, ensure that you reset the foreground color to black. To make it easier on your nerves, you might want to try zooming in and out on your image. It really helps.

5. To zoom in press CTRL +

6. To zoom out press CTRL -

  
7. When you’re satisfied with the selection you’ve made, click on Edit in Quick Mask Mode again.

8. Press CTRL+SHIFT+ I

  
9. Now press CTRL + J. A new layer consisting of only what you’d selected will be created.

That’s method 1.

Method No. 2. "Quick Selection Tool"

1. Open an image in Photoshop.

2. Select Quick Selection Tool.

3. You can change the size of the selection tool according to what you select on your image. Also, you must take note of two more important features. These are the angle and the roundness of the selection tool. You can change these depending on your selection needs.


4. To fix a selection, or to deselect a selection, use the Subtract from selection tool.

5. Press CTRL + J

That’s method 2.

Method No. 3. "Color Range"


1. Open an image in Photoshop.
Now I am going to select all flowers. For this image the best way of selection is Color Range.

2. Go to Select > Color Range.

3.  Pick the Eyedropper tool and click on the red color on your image. To select the different shades of red on your image, make use of the Add to Sample tool.

When you’re done, just click OK.

4. Press CTRL + J.

That’s method 3.

Now, to change the background of your layer with another image, you can simply load a new image and drag and drop it onto the selection layer.