theBlog @reneepearson.com
Tiffany Tillman’s Heart of the Holidays
Tis the Season
Tiffany Tillman’s popular 25 Days of Templates workshop is back and this season we will capture the Heart of the Holidays!
25 Days of Templates began as an online workshop in 2009, and each year since, it has helped hundreds of digital scrapbookers record their favorite December memories. This year’s focus presents weekly presentations featuring the best album strategy, photography, and digital technique lessons from previous editions. And new this year, are Monday — Friday journaling prompts by master storyteller, Sara Gleason of Plant Your Story.
Using your choice of Tiffany’s square or letter-sized holiday-inspired template sets as a foundation plus a generous, digital mega-kit by Karla Dudley and Mye De Leon, you’ll have everything you need to complete a detailed or relaxed album featuring your most-cherished holiday memories.
Be sure to join Tiffany on ReneeTV Tuesday, November 13 at 9pm EST (New York City) for a live webinar related to Heart of the Holidays. Everyone’s invited to attend.
Wanna Learn How: Selectively Color a B&W Photo
The winner of the Creating Keepsakes subscription giveaway is commenter #5, Kathi Heifner who commented:
I have Photoshop Elements and haven’t learned all the tricks. Thanks for the tip, can’t wait to try.
Congratulations Kathi!
Hey RP fans! Deena Boese from Creating Keepsakes magazine back at the table with another quick and easy Photoshop tutorial! This week’s tip comes from the request of last month’s tutorial reader Melinda. She wrote:
We’ve all seen those stunning black and white photos with a single item highlighted with a bright pop of color. If you’ve ever wondered how to recreate this look yourself, today is your day! There are probably a dozen different ways to add selective color to a black and white image in Photoshop. But today I’m going to show you my favorite quick and easy technique that can take a photo from blah to beautiful in under 5 minutes.
With just a few clicks of the mouse you can transform an ordinary photo from this:
to this:
Wanna learn how simple it is to selectively color a black and white photo? Read on! (more…)
Wanna Learn How: Seamless Photo Backgrounds
The winner of the Creating Keepsakes subscription giveaway is commenter #2, Linda Palmer who commented:
Thank you for an excellent tutorial. Easy to understand and follow. I love learning something new.
Congratulations Linda!
Hey RP fans! Deena Boese from Creating Keepsakes magazine back at the table with another quick and easy Photoshop tutorial! This week I was talking with a reader who was in love with magazine ads and wished she knew how to design her layouts with a similar look. As we talked, we agreed on a couple of factors that contribute to the designer look she was after:
1) A large focal point photo that spans the width of the ad, and
2) Bold graphic text that’s integrated with the image.
She immediately said she was drawn to full-page photos but didn’t know what to do when her photo background ran out before her layout canvas did. Ah ha! Enter Photoshop!
With an array of Photoshop super tools at our fingertips it’s easy to duplicate or clone backgrounds to get that margin to margin image we love. While this technique won’t necessarily work on photos with busy backgrounds, it’s a gem on photos with backgrounds featuring solid colors (think walls and fabric) or nature (think grass, sky, water and sand). By extending your photo backgrounds you create the perfect place to house titles, journaling, and even design elements! Here are a few examples of the impact an extended photo background can make on a layout.
Turning 3 by Deena Boese, as seen in the July/August 2012 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.
My SuperHero by Deena Boese, as seen in the January 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.
God’s Beauty by Deena Boese, as seen in the April 2008 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.
Uncontainable Joy by Deena Boese, as seen in the December 2009 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine.
Wanna learn how simple it is to create seamless photo backgrounds? Read on! (more…)
Feed Me: Using Color to Add Emotional Impact to a Photograph
Have you ever taken a picture that was good, but seemed to lack something. In this video tutorial Julieanne Kost discusses how the addition of color as well as supporting imagery can help reinforce the mood and message of a composite image that a single photograph may fail to do on it’s own.
Heads Up! Adobe Creative Cloud Special Pricing
If your livelihood depends on at least two of the Adobe Creative Suite products, you want to know about this. Since I use Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, InDesign & Acrobat Pro, the Creative Cloud was a no brainer for me.* And, as a registered user of at least one Creative Suite product, I qualified for the 1-year promo price of $29.99 per month. That means I’m getting the CS6 Master Collection for $30 a month! The Photoshop Extended upgrade price alone starts at $399. And Illustrator upgrades start at $249. This special sign-up pricing expires on August 31, 2012.
What is Creative Cloud?
“Adobe® Creative Cloud™ is an ongoing membership that lets you download and install any of the Adobe Creative Suite® 6 desktop applications, plus other applications including Adobe Photoshop® Lightroom® 4. You also get online services for file sharing, collaboration, and publishing. Best of all, you get the latest apps and features as soon as they’re released — giving you the freedom to create anything you can imagine.” Adobe Website.
Who’s eligible for the $29.99 Creative Cloud introductory pricing?
Existing customers who have a qualified registered CS3, CS4, CS5, CS5.5, or CS6 individual product or suite edition and who sign up for the Creative Cloud annual plan directly from Adobe by August 31, 2012, will receive special introductory pricing of US$29.99 per month for the first year of membership.
Learn more about the Adobe Creative Cloud.
Learn more about the special upgrade pricing.
*Disclaimer: I receive no compensation or financial gain from this post. Just wanted you guys to know before the offer expires.
Changing the Color of Elements
There are many ways to change the colors of your elements to match other items or even photos in your layouts, these are just a few of my personal first choices.
For Mono-colored Elements
So you have this wonderful translucent or semitransparent brushwork or mask you want to include in your layout, but the color is not what you want. I use two options depending on the element itself.
Option 1
1. Bring your objects into your layout so you can see them both.
2. Select the layer of the element you want to change the color.
3. From the top menu: EDIT>FILL (Shift F5)
4. From Contents use the drop down menu to Color.
5. Using the eyedropper that now pops up with the Choose a color dialog box, choose the color you want from your layout.
6. Make sure Preserve Transparency box is checked.
7. Opacity can be anything and will depend on the object being recolored. The higher the %, the more of the color will show.
8. Click OK in the Color dialog box.
9. Click OK in the Fill dialog box.
10. If you want to try a different color, Undo (Ctrl/Cmd Z) and repeat above steps.
NOTE: I highly suggest you play with the opacity setting to see how it reacts with the object you are recoloring. I normally choose between 50–100%.
For Mono-colored Elements with light and dark areas of color
If you notice, my original paint splatter has a lighter color of the paint with the darker of the color for the grid lines. I want to retain that look and not completely fill all one color shade as with the first option.
Option 2
1. Bring your objects into your layout so you can see them both.
2. Select the layer of the element you want to change the color.
3. Double click on the layer to open your Layer Style dialog box or click the Fx button at the bottom of the Layers Panel.
4. Click on and check the box for Color Overlay.
5. Make sure the Preview check box is checked so you can see your results as you adjust.
6. Click on the small colored box to change the color.
7. Choose your color with the eyedropper when the Select overlay color box pops up from your layout, Click OK.
8. Change the Blend mode with the pull down menu and click OK.
You will get many different looks with different blend modes and you can also change the opacity here too. The only way to learn these is to try different ones and note how they will react with your particular element. Most of the time I use Color as a blending mode, but when you have a very light color in your element, it can produce results I don’t like. I simply cycle through the Blend Modes to see which option I like the best for my layout.
As an additional option, you can also adjust the Layer’s Opacity and Fill.
Just a few of the Blend Mode options shown for example. I used the red from the paper in the layout to show how these react.
Changing the Layer’s Opacity or Fill adjustment examples. I used the color burn blending mode here.
Here is my final layout.
Credits:
All items from Beautiful Mess 8 and the Paint & Grid splatter from Beautiful Mess 7
Want to see a video showing how to recolor another way too?
You can find it on my blog here at “How to Recolor Multiple Colors on a Single Element.”
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and can’t wait to see your layouts applying your new-found skills.
DOWNLOADS
Tutorial: Changing the Color of Elements
Feed me: August 9, 2012
Julieanne Kost: What’s New in Adobe Photoshop CS6
In this video episode, Senior Digital Imaging Evangelist Julieanne Kost shows off some of the new features of Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended, part of the new Adobe Creative Cloud. You’ll see the blazingly fast performance of the new Mercury Graphics Engine. You’ll learn about the new improved processing and enhanced controls in Adobe Camera Raw 7, the new photographic blur effects, how to straighten objects using the new Adaptive Wide Angle, and more.
Continue reading at AdobeTV
Feed me: August 1, 2012
How To Create An HDR Photo Effect In Photoshop
With the Olympics going on right now, when I saw this tutorial on the Creative Nerds website, I wanted to share it with you.
In this tutorial Creative Nerds share with you how to apply a high dynamic range (HDR) effect to your photos. This technique is easy to achieve using a new filter available in Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop CS 5.5. There are so many ways to make an HDR photo effect, according to the author, but this has to be the easiest method, and produces the best results.
Continue reading at Creative Nerds
Wanna Learn How: Replacing Color
The winner of the Creating Keepsakes subscription giveaway is commenter #2, Chrystiana Miller who commented:
Thanks for the tutorial!
Congratulations, Chrystiana Miller! Please send us an email to claim your prize.
Hey RP fans! Deena Boese from Creating Keepsakes magazine back at the table with another Photoshop tutorial! This week’s tip comes from the request of last month’s tutorial reader Tenika. She wrote:
The fact that we, as digital memory keepers, can alter and recolor any item is one of the major benefits of digital scrapbooking! We can create custom looks, recolor any paper to match our photos, and double (or triple) the life of every product we have in our digital library! While using the well-known Hue/Saturation Adjustment will change the entire color value of a product, there are sometimes we just want to alter a single color while leaving the others intact. What to do? Let me introduce you to “Replace Color”!
Wanna learn how simple it is to replace color in papers and elements? Read on!
In Photoshop, open the patterned paper you wish to recolor. Select Image>Adjustments>Replace Color.
With the eyedropper tool already selected, click on the area of the paper you wish to recolor. Here I sampled the tan background color. In the dialog box, you’ll notice the image portions in the tan value have turned from black to white.
For this example, we’re changing the tan background color to a crisp white. To do this, simply adjust the Lightness slider all the way to +100 and click OK.
Let’s say we have a photo with a green background and want to change the blue flowers in the paper to green. Once again, select Image>Adjustments>Replace Color.
With the eyedropper tool already selected, click on the blue color value in one of the flowers. Again, you’ll notice image portions in the dialog box have turned from black to white. This time adjust the Hue slider until you reach the desired green value. You can also play with the Saturation and Lightness sliders to get the exact color you desire.
Success! Use this technique to create custom looks and breathe new life into digital papers and elements you already own.
And now you know! Try altering a single color in a paper or element, or go crazy and adjust them all to create a one-of-a-kind product, color-designed specifically for your photos! I hope you have fun discovering creative ways to use this fun and easy technique in your layouts! For easy reference, I’ve included a PDF handout you can download and add to your “Wanna Learn How” library.
As always, we want to hear from you! Have you seen a digital technique that made you say, “Oooh! I wanna learn how to do that!”? Leave a comment to let us know what techniques you want to see here. I have a free one-year subscription to Creating Keepsakes magazine in my hands that will go to one random (and lucky) commenter. So be sure to drop us a line to be entered in the drawing! Good luck!
DOWNLOADS
Tutorial: How to Replace Color
Building Better Pages with Tiffany Tillman
I’m excited to begin my third year teaching at ReneePearson.com with new class offerings and opportunities to help digital scrapbookers Build Better Pages!
Open for registration now is The Digital Scrapbooker’s Guide to Blending, a self-paced workshop where you can learn how to create one-of-a-kind digitally blended scrapbook pages using Adobe’s versatile blending tools.
Join me on Monday, June 11th at 10pm ET for my first live monthly webinar featuring a demonstration using blending techniques. This webinar will take place at ReneeTV and is open for anyone to attend. I’ll answer your questions and give you a peek at what’s coming in the future.
So tell your friends to jump right in if they want to learn a few blending techniques! Starting in July, the monthly webinars will only be open to students who have enrolled in one of my classes (past or present).
I hope you’ll join me in my new workshop and during the Building Better Pages webinar!