See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/29/07

Ok, you have been making brushes for all your Photoshop tasks and now you have a zillion of them. How do you arrange them so you can easily find them? This tutorial will lead you toward organizing your brushes. You'll learn the following: * How to... See more

Ok, you have been making brushes for all your Photoshop tasks and now you have a zillion of them. How do you arrange them so you can easily find them? This tutorial will lead you toward organizing your brushes. You'll learn the following: * How to load a new brush collection to Photoshop * What is a Brush Library? * How to add a brush to a specific Library * How to move a brush from one Library to another * How to take brushes out of a Library * How to rearrange your brushes within a Library * Saving a brush Library * Making a Brush Tool Preset This tutorial will make more sense to you if you have worked with Brushes a bit, but it would be good for you if you're new to this, too. I've written this tutorial with PS CS, but it will work with version 7 and later versions, too. Users of PS Elements 2 can use all of this except the part about Tool Presets at the end. Your screenshots will look a bit different, but the rest works the same for you! See less

See this at: mayang.com| Added on 08/01/07

They are free to use for all uses, whether commercial or non-commercial (you may incorporate them into your derived work with no requirement to pay us any licensing fee etc). Your derived work must involve significant modification to the textures. It... See more

They are free to use for all uses, whether commercial or non-commercial (you may incorporate them into your derived work with no requirement to pay us any licensing fee etc). Your derived work must involve significant modification to the textures. It would be nice if you could credit us. See less

See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

It would be impossible for me to list or give examples for all of the things that you can do with filters and combinations of filters in Photoshop, so i won't even try. What I will try to do, however, is to give you some tips along these lines: *... See more

It would be impossible for me to list or give examples for all of the things that you can do with filters and combinations of filters in Photoshop, so i won't even try. What I will try to do, however, is to give you some tips along these lines: * Using filters in a non-destructive manner (and what this means!) * My classifications of Photoshop's native filters * Using filters to accomplish your goals * How to creatively combine filtering effects * Recording what you've done * Filtering tips * Pitfalls to avoid in using filters This tutorial will work equally well with Photoshop (any version) or Elements 2. If you are working with something other than PS 7, your screenshots may vary slightly. Though I have written with beginners in mind, I will try to put something in that you have never seen, no matter how experienced you are! See less

See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

This tutorial began as work for PS Elements 2: Most Wanted (Friends of ED, 12/02). Since this part ended up on the cutting-room floor (page limits... your Goddess always goes on too long!), I am publishing this here instead. This piece was written... See more

This tutorial began as work for PS Elements 2: Most Wanted (Friends of ED, 12/02). Since this part ended up on the cutting-room floor (page limits... your Goddess always goes on too long!), I am publishing this here instead. This piece was written using Elements, but everything we do here can be done with full-version Photoshop. The screenshots will be slightly different in places. If you find yourself wanting to learn more about Photorealistic Painting in Photoshop, I have a six-week online class in just this subject! You'll make several paintings and learn many cool techniques for making real paintings that look like photos! Learn more about my classes... Drawing | Trapped within many of us who play with photos is an artist who wants to be able to draw. Many of us have thought that we couldn't draw and so we have resorted to trying to make our photos look like drawings or paintings. It is for us that I wrote this. Much of what we will do here involves learning to see, and not just... See less

See this at: scrapbook-bytes.com| Added on 08/27/07

Folded Ribbons Select a premade, or create, a ribbon for this tutorial. Thicker ribbons are easiest to work with using this technique. Open the ribbon to your canvas. The first task is to divide the ribbon into overlapping sections of different... See more

Folded Ribbons Select a premade, or create, a ribbon for this tutorial. Thicker ribbons are easiest to work with using this technique. Open the ribbon to your canvas. The first task is to divide the ribbon into overlapping sections of different lengths. Use the Marquee tool to select a piece from the far left and use CTRL+J to make a duplicate of the piece. Move the piece down slightly so you can see the edges. With the whole length ribbon layer selected, use the Marquee Tool to select the next piece ensuring it overlaps the first. Move the piece down slightly so you can see the edges. Continue this process until you reach the right edge of the ribbon. Hide the intact ribbon layer. Arrange the pieces of the ribbon as desired. You can change the layer order or move the pieces to determine the amount of overlap/fold. When you are happy with the arrangement, select the second piece which should overlap the first. The aim is to give the edge a fold so the very edge should be darker and... See less

See this at: escrappers.com| Added on 08/27/07

This has to be one of the easiest trick, but I use on a regular basis. Ever wanted to create a white border around your photos, but could not get it quite right? | 1. Open an image or Flatten an freshly cropped photo. | 2. Hit "D" to make sure you... See more

This has to be one of the easiest trick, but I use on a regular basis. Ever wanted to create a white border around your photos, but could not get it quite right? | 1. Open an image or Flatten an freshly cropped photo. | 2. Hit "D" to make sure you background color is White (unless you want another color for your border) | 3. Go to >Image>Canvas Size (>Image>Resize>Canvas Size in PSE) and change the canvas dimensions to add the border. In this example I've added 0.5 inches to create a 1/4 border around my photo. Using the "Relative" option will make it even easier. The value entered will be added to the current height or width of the canvas. | 4. Copy/Paste this image on your layout. Bend it, add shadows, bevels or anything you like. See less

See this at: escrappers.com| Added on 08/27/07

Here's my trick for natural looking Vellum. | I never use the pure white, as they tend to be to static looking (but it does the job!) Apply a gradient on your desired vellum. Light gray - white - Light gray - white - Light gray (For this example, I... See more

Here's my trick for natural looking Vellum. | I never use the pure white, as they tend to be to static looking (but it does the job!) Apply a gradient on your desired vellum. Light gray - white - Light gray - white - Light gray (For this example, I have made the gray darker than the one I usually choose) | Change the layer opacity between 10 and 50%. If you want your text to also "reflect" the light, just put the text layer underneath the Vellum. | Add a bevel and a shadow to your vellum, but keep it soft. You can also add a "satin" layer style and experiment with textures for an even better result. See less

See this at: escrappers.com| Added on 08/27/07

1. Type in your Text and Rasterize it (you can also use an image) 2. Select the Text (CTRL+Click on the Layer Menu) | 3. Apply >Filter>Render>Clouds or paint white areas if you don't want a random result. | 4. Add noise.

1. Type in your Text and Rasterize it (you can also use an image) 2. Select the Text (CTRL+Click on the Layer Menu) | 3. Apply >Filter>Render>Clouds or paint white areas if you don't want a random result. | 4. Add noise. See less

See this at: escrappers.com| Added on 08/27/07

1. Create your waterdrop or Gems and Fill it with any color. 2. Add Layer Filters: Bevel and Emboss, Inner Shadow and a very soft Drop Shadow. | 4. Select your background image and distort your selection using the Liquify Filter (Choose the Bloat... See more

1. Create your waterdrop or Gems and Fill it with any color. 2. Add Layer Filters: Bevel and Emboss, Inner Shadow and a very soft Drop Shadow. | 4. Select your background image and distort your selection using the Liquify Filter (Choose the Bloat Tool). You can use >Filter>Distort>Spherize instead. See less

See this at: escrappers.com| Added on 08/27/07

3. Create your text 4. Rasterize the text layer. 5. Smudge the edges for a "not so perfect look" | 6. Make the text layer invisible. 7. CTRL+Click on the text layer (on the layers dialogue box) to select it. | 8. Click on the top "sand" layer and... See more

3. Create your text 4. Rasterize the text layer. 5. Smudge the edges for a "not so perfect look" | 6. Make the text layer invisible. 7. CTRL+Click on the text layer (on the layers dialogue box) to select it. | 8. Click on the top "sand" layer and delete the selected area. | 9. Make the bottom "sand" layer a bit darker using Hue/Saturation (CTRL+U). | 10. Add a "Drop Shadow", "Bevel" and an "Outer Glow" to the top "sand" Layer. | 11. Merge all the layers and a some perspective to it (>Edit>Transform>Perspective) 12. Add props and Use the Burn Tool on the sand to give it a wet look. See less

See this at: escrappers.com| Added on 08/27/07

1. Open your image. If you want a border around it, you should add it at this point. | 2. Rotate your image by 90°CCW. 3. Increase the size of the canvas to make it larger than the original image. | 4. >Filter>Distort>Shear to create the warped... See more

1. Open your image. If you want a border around it, you should add it at this point. | 2. Rotate your image by 90°CCW. 3. Increase the size of the canvas to make it larger than the original image. | 4. >Filter>Distort>Shear to create the warped effect. See less

See this at: escrappers.com| Added on 08/27/07

5. Change the Layer Mode to Multiply and reduce the Opacity. | Extra step: you could delete the white areas and add a bevel effect for an even better result.

5. Change the Layer Mode to Multiply and reduce the Opacity. | Extra step: you could delete the white areas and add a bevel effect for an even better result. See less

See this at: photoshopsupport.com| Added on 08/27/07

Use The Displace Filter & Displacement Maps To Make A Realistic Flag is a free tutorial from "Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Maximum Performance" by Mark Galer.

Use The Displace Filter & Displacement Maps To Make A Realistic Flag is a free tutorial from "Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 Maximum Performance" by Mark Galer. See less

See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

For Oak and Pine, you will need the brush that you will make in the next step. Making the brush: When I'm doing woods with these distinct grains, I like to use what I call a "hair" brush. (It is great for doing hair too.) You might be able to find... See more

For Oak and Pine, you will need the brush that you will make in the next step. Making the brush: When I'm doing woods with these distinct grains, I like to use what I call a "hair" brush. (It is great for doing hair too.) You might be able to find one somewhere but I made mine. Here's how: * File > New and make it 64 x 64. Using your zoom tool, enlarge this canvas to 800%. Make the background white and the foreground color black. * Choose your airbrush tool and your soft brush at size 65 pixels. Set options for your airbrush to Dissolve. * Click once on your canvas to create a random smattering of dots. * Erase any dots that are touching other dots. Your goal here is randomness so don't try to get it too even. * Filter > blur to give your little dots some softness. * Select -> all and then click on the brush option arrow in the brushes palette and then click Define Brush. (Edit > Define Brush in later versions.) You should see your new "hair" brush at the bottom of your brushes. See less

See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

a. Make a new layer, label it “Cork,” and fill it with medium tan. I used #D9C4A7. (Type this into the # blank at the bottom of your Color Picker. This is the Hexadecimal code.) Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Check the Monochromatic box at the bottom. I... See more

a. Make a new layer, label it “Cork,” and fill it with medium tan. I used #D9C4A7. (Type this into the # blank at the bottom of your Color Picker. This is the Hexadecimal code.) Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Check the Monochromatic box at the bottom. I used 20%. Filter > Pixelate > Crystallize. I used a Cell Size of 51, but you may need a different size. This will be the size of your cork pieces, so make it large enough that you can see them at your chosen resolution and image size. | b. The Crystallize filter is good, but it leaves us with too much contrast. In particular, I don’t want the very light and very dark pieces. One way to fix this is to select these places and fill them. Use the Magic Wand with Contiguous off and a tolerance of about 20%. This enables you to click once for each color. Hold Shift and click a light segment and a dark one. | Once you have all the dark and light ones selected, choose a cork-like foreground color (#BCA17A) and Alt-Backspace to fill the selection.... See less

See this at: twopeasinabucket.kab...| Added on 06/26/07

A basic brush already included in your graphics program along with a couple of minor tool adjustments can make quick work of creating a pattern on your next layout. STEPS: 1. Open new document sized to 11" x 8.5" 2. Create a new layer. 2a. Set your... See more

A basic brush already included in your graphics program along with a couple of minor tool adjustments can make quick work of creating a pattern on your next layout. STEPS: 1. Open new document sized to 11" x 8.5" 2. Create a new layer. 2a. Set your foreground and background colors (to start my pattern, I selected a dark and light shade of green.) 2b. Select a hard round brush and set it to approximately 70 px. 2c. Open "More Options" in your brush tool bar and set Spacing to 125% (this setting determines the distance between dots when you use your brush) and Hue Jitter to 100% (this setting determines the variation of color between your fore- and background colors.) NOTE: Fade means the number of times the brush image will repeat before fading to nothing (a zero setting means the brush image will not fade.) Hardness indicates the size of the brushes "hard" center. 100% hardness means the brush will have a hard edge. A 50% hardness means the brush will start to fade to a soft edge 50%... See less

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See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

Note to Elements users: You don't have this Add Layer Mask button, but you CAN add a mask. Yours is the Elemask and you make it as we did in THIS tutorial. What you do here is the following: * Click the Background layer. * Click the Create a New... See more

Note to Elements users: You don't have this Add Layer Mask button, but you CAN add a mask. Yours is the Elemask and you make it as we did in THIS tutorial. What you do here is the following: * Click the Background layer. * Click the Create a New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. * Choose Hue/Saturation and click OK without changing anything. * Alt-click between this Adjustment layer and the paper layer above it in the Layers palette. Now you have your Elemask. And HERE is what your Layers palette looks like. See less

See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

This effect is one I've been asked about, ever since I created the site map in the interface you see at the top of this page. What you are creating is the illusion of folded paper. You do this by reshaping the paper and by applying appropriate... See more

This effect is one I've been asked about, ever since I created the site map in the interface you see at the top of this page. What you are creating is the illusion of folded paper. You do this by reshaping the paper and by applying appropriate shading. In this tutorial, you will work with several of Photoshop's tools and techniques including these: * Selections * Layers * Transformations using distortions * Gradient tool * Paintbrush * Keyboard shortcuts This tutorial is written for beginners with PS, but I think that more experienced users might learn a trick or two, as well. The tutorial will work equally well with any version of Photoshop or Elements. The screenshots for this tutorial were done with PS 7, so if your version is different, your screenshots may vary. This tutorial in Russian! | I will start by using a map I made. You can use any image file, including just a plain colored rectangle. 1. Drag your image to the Create a New Layer icon to duplicate it. This is just... See less

See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

1. We will begin with this search. Dig out your PS CS disks and find the one labeled "Resources and Extras." Insert this into your CD reader. 2. Find your Goodies folder. From there, surf to Photoshop CS > Optional Plug-Ins > Filters.... Opening the... See more

1. We will begin with this search. Dig out your PS CS disks and find the one labeled "Resources and Extras." Insert this into your CD reader. 2. Find your Goodies folder. From there, surf to Photoshop CS > Optional Plug-Ins > Filters.... Opening the Filters folder should reveal two filters you don't have yet: 3D Transform.8BF and Texture Fill.8BF. 3. Open another copy of My Computer and set it beside the one where you have your CD's contents. In the 2nd My Computer, go to C: > Programs > Adobe CS > Photoshop > Plug-Ins. 4. Now drag the 3D Transform filter plugin over to your Filters folder. (You can drag the Texture Fill one, too, if you want.) 5. Close PS and then reopen it. NOW we're ready to proceed. Begin with a photo or drawing of a wine bottle and your label image on another layer or in another file. You’ll need to have the label and the bottle in the same document, on different layers. To bring the label into the bottle file, you first make sure that both files are in RGB mode.... See less

See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

Gel text! I have been asked by many people to write a tutorial for this effect and here it is at last. This tutorial is written with beginners in mind, but it shouldn't be too boring if you are beyond beginner. As you work through this tutorial you... See more

Gel text! I have been asked by many people to write a tutorial for this effect and here it is at last. This tutorial is written with beginners in mind, but it shouldn't be too boring if you are beyond beginner. As you work through this tutorial you will work with the following: * A lesson in seeing, to discover how I come up with these ideas. * Using layers. * Using the Type Tool. * Modifying a selection. * Stroking a selection. * Copying a layer. * Merging linked layers. * Using layer blending modes. * A bit of hand work. When you look at the "gel" below, what is this? What are we seeing? Let's really LOOK at this: * What is the shade of the letters themselves before we made them look like gel? * From what direction does the light appear to be coming? What makes you think that? * In a shiny material like gel, are the highlights crisp or blurred? * How do we know that the light shines "through" the letter? * What color is the "shadow" when light travels through something that is... See less

See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

This effect lends a definite tone of aristocracy. Though I would not term this a "beginner tutorial," if you like the look, go for it! There are several steps, but I wrote this with you in mind, so you can do it. You will just have to be patient with... See more

This effect lends a definite tone of aristocracy. Though I would not term this a "beginner tutorial," if you like the look, go for it! There are several steps, but I wrote this with you in mind, so you can do it. You will just have to be patient with yourself and go slowly. Glance through the whole tutorial before you begin, so you can get an idea where this is going. This will help it to make sense. As you work through this project, you will learn/practice these techniques: * Use several different filters to make a texture. * Use alpha channels and lighting effects to create a 3-D look. * Use layer effects. Throughout this tutorial, if there is something in this color, underlined, there is a more detailed explanation of it available if you click it. Use your "Back" button to return here. This tutorial was written with Photoshop 7. | 1. First, we will make the antique gold texture layer. See less

See this at: myjanee.com| Added on 08/01/07

In this tutorial, we'll make a crayon drawing in Photoshop! Skills you will learn/practice along the way include these: * Making a Pattern Adjustment layer (and why you would want to) * Using Layer Blending modes * Changing brush settings * Loading... See more

In this tutorial, we'll make a crayon drawing in Photoshop! Skills you will learn/practice along the way include these: * Making a Pattern Adjustment layer (and why you would want to) * Using Layer Blending modes * Changing brush settings * Loading textures This tutorial is written with the beginner in mind Although this tut was written for the use of PS 7+, and its screenshots are from version 7, it will work for PS Elements, as well. | What we will do here is to make a textured background, like the paper or canvas we would be drawing on with the crayon. Then we will make our "crayon" and draw with it. Here we go! 1. Make the Canvas. Make a new layer, by clicking the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. This next step is cool, because it will save time.. and at the same time, gives you a fun option. Begin by filling the background layer with a texture. This texture came from Edit -> Fill -> Pattern.. and then choosing the "Wax Crayon on Charcoal Paper" texture.... See less

See this at: spraguelab.squarespa...| Added on 07/07/07

We had a great chat last night! It is so much fun giving a little sneak peek of the week’s technique in a live setting. I know it can get a little crazy and crowded in there, but it is still a lot of fun! Thanks everyone who came! :D If you couldn’t... See more

We had a great chat last night! It is so much fun giving a little sneak peek of the week’s technique in a live setting. I know it can get a little crazy and crowded in there, but it is still a lot of fun! Thanks everyone who came! :D If you couldn’t make it, (say, you had a life or something, or you live in Europe, or you just plain didn’t wanna), here are the instructions to make a great overlay from almost any patterned paper. I think this technique works best with text papers - the texture of the words and letters really shines through. But it should work with any densely-patterned paper. I’ve tried it with both text and polka-dot papers with very nice effect. Here again is the layout we’ll be making: Supplies: * Lychee Martini kit by Andrea Victoria (papers, flowers, ribbon) * Vintage Text paper single and On the Edge Flourishes (for a little extra in the corners) by Katie Pertiet * Fonts: CK True Type, SBC the 40s Alright! Here we go! See less

See this at: spraguelab.squarespa...| Added on 07/07/07

Hi There! Welcome to Issue #5 of Photoshop Friday for 2007! This week’s PSF focuses on one of my favorite designers – Jen Wilson! Her saturated colors, great texture, and awesome distressing make great layouts easy. And this week’s technique is gonig... See more

Hi There! Welcome to Issue #5 of Photoshop Friday for 2007! This week’s PSF focuses on one of my favorite designers – Jen Wilson! Her saturated colors, great texture, and awesome distressing make great layouts easy. And this week’s technique is gonig to be so much fun. I can’t wait to share it with you. Here is the layout for this week. Rowen turns 3 on Sunday (holy cow!), so I used a recent picture of her and wrote some thoughts around her being on the brink of three. As I mentioned, all my supplies this week came from Jen Wilson, whose site over at JenWilsonDesigns.com is great. Supplies: * Fancy Free paper from Fancy Free paper pack * Paper circles, flowers, paper trim, corner stamp flower, and floral paper: Re-Jen-erate Reaffirm kit * Red paper: Re-Jen-erate Remember kit * Blue paper (small flowers): Re-Jen-erate Rekindle kit * Additional supplies: * My Grunge Mask, available here: * P22 Cezanne font; Century Gothic font, Microsoft The main technique I want to show you for... See less

See this at: spraguelab.squarespa...| Added on 07/07/07

Today’s PS Friday comes as a special request from Janet Ohlson. The Hot Spot in the inside back cover of the October issue of Creating Keepsakes features a layout of mine that she asked about. I used a technique where I created a gradient fill and... See more

Today’s PS Friday comes as a special request from Janet Ohlson. The Hot Spot in the inside back cover of the October issue of Creating Keepsakes features a layout of mine that she asked about. I used a technique where I created a gradient fill and used it as a clipping mask for a brush. It sounds complicated, but it isn’t too bad. And so I decided to use this technique in a card today for PS Friday. Yay cards! :D Here’s the image we’ll end up with: Card front, Fina Can you see on this card how the floral image transitions smoothly from pink to blue? That’s what we’ll be doing. :) Ready to get started? * Start a new document, 4x4 inches, 300 dpi, RGB color, white background * Fill the background with any color you like. I chose brown. * Choose a great brush image. It can be floral, viney, design-ey, anything you like. Keep in mind that this technique works well on brushes that have thicker lines and areas to them, so you can see the gradient. I chose this gorgeous brush from a new set... See less

See this at: spraguelab.squarespa...| Added on 07/07/07

Hello! Welcome to another installment of Photoshop Friday. Here’s today’s inspiration.See the accent in the bottom right corner? That’s what we’re going to make today. Here’s what you’ll need to complete the tutorial: 1- a brush image (I’ll give you... See more

Hello! Welcome to another installment of Photoshop Friday. Here’s today’s inspiration.See the accent in the bottom right corner? That’s what we’re going to make today. Here’s what you’ll need to complete the tutorial: 1- a brush image (I’ll give you that) 2- a digital patterned paper (you can check out some of the free digital kits at Two Peas in a Bucket if you don’t have any papers) 3- Photoshop. :P Okay.. here we go. Creating Patterned Paper Accents with Brushes Skill level: Intermediate So last week you made your own brush. How cool was that? I love PS brushes. Seriously, give me a brush and I’ll follow you anywhere. But then you have to feed me and give me a place to stay.. so better be really sure you want to give me that brush. This week, you’ll be making a brush from this image: I think it’s pretty and kind of Art Nouveau. So we’ll take it, and make a patterned paper accent with it to either print, or put on a digital page. This brush, like last week’s, came from the Dover book... See less

See this at: spraguelab.squarespa...| Added on 07/07/07

Alright, now that you have your curving shape, you can place your other layout components. * For my background paper (and most of the title), I used the A Boy digital kit from Jackie Eckles. Awesome stuff in there. * To match the accents in the... See more

Alright, now that you have your curving shape, you can place your other layout components. * For my background paper (and most of the title), I used the A Boy digital kit from Jackie Eckles. Awesome stuff in there. * To match the accents in the background paper, I added a stroked line on the edges of my curving shape. I did this by Ctrl-clicking on the thumbnail of that layer in my layers palette, creating a new layer, and stroking the selection (Edit > Stroke Selection) with about 5 pixels of black. * I used 5 photos - one focal photo and 4 accent photos arranged as a grid. I placed them on layers behind my curving shape. * Then I created a new layer, placed it behind the photos, and added a white-filled rectangle marquee shape. * I rounded the corners of my top left and top right photos, and all four corners of my photo mat using a corner rounder brush with my eraser tool. I used a brush from Katie Pertiet’s Deco Scissors pack. Next week we’ll go over how to round corners, okay? :) *... See less

See this at: spraguelab.squarespa...| Added on 04/26/08

Hi there! Welcome to another (on time!) edition of Photoshop Friday! Today’s topic is noise reduction. I know. A lot of us wish that we could have Noise Reduction in real life. Unfortunately, short of suggesting earplugs, there isn’t much I can do to... See more

Hi there! Welcome to another (on time!) edition of Photoshop Friday! Today’s topic is noise reduction. I know. A lot of us wish that we could have Noise Reduction in real life. Unfortunately, short of suggesting earplugs, there isn’t much I can do to help you there. But I can help you get the noise out of your images. :D Photoshop’s default noise reduction tools have left a lot to be desired. And as of CS3, they have made a few updates, but I still prefer to go the plug-in route with this. I’ve been using this particular plug-in for several years with great results. It’s my favorite noise-reduction software, and I think you’ll like it too! :D The software is called Neat Image, and it’s available for a FREE fully functional demo here for Windows, and demo here for Mac. I’ll be using the free version in this tutorial, so grab it and follow along! :D Just for incentive, here’s the before-and-after shot that I’ll be using in my example: See less

See this at: spraguelab.squarespa...| Added on 01/21/08

Hi there! Welcome to our first Photoshop Friday of 2008! Here’s a cool technique that you can use for subtle or dramatic effect to create a glow around the highlights in a photo. The subtle one is barely noticeable, but just adds a little extra touch... See more

Hi there! Welcome to our first Photoshop Friday of 2008! Here’s a cool technique that you can use for subtle or dramatic effect to create a glow around the highlights in a photo. The subtle one is barely noticeable, but just adds a little extra touch of light. In the subtle one, look especially at Rowen’s hair, and the tip of her nose, as well as the flowers. The dramatic one, of course, has a cool artistic effect that will be perfect in certain situations. Here are all the variations we’ll try: First, let’s do the default/medium glow, since that’s the place we’ll start for each effect. After the initial glow effect is done, you can either reduce the effect or strengthen it. Let’s get started! See less

See this at: spraguelab.squarespa...| Added on 07/07/07

Yeah! Welcome to PS Friday! I hope you like this week’s edition. Today you’ll add a cool dream-i-fied/handtinted look to a photo, like this: Cool, huh? But wait, here was my original, totally unedited except scaling and saving for web: And I need to... See more

Yeah! Welcome to PS Friday! I hope you like this week’s edition. Today you’ll add a cool dream-i-fied/handtinted look to a photo, like this: Cool, huh? But wait, here was my original, totally unedited except scaling and saving for web: And I need to mention that I adapted these instructions from a tutorial over at PSDTuts.com, and I owe them some thanks for this. :) Ready? Here we go: Creating a Dreamy/Handtinted effect on a Photo * Open your photo. * Duplicate your photo onto a new layer and hide the original. * Click on the layer with the duplicated photo, and change the blending mode to Soft Light (this is located in a dropdown at the very top of the layers palette). * Duplicate the photo again. * Click on the lower of the two photo copies. Desaturate this layer (Image > Adjustments > Desaturate OR in Elements - Enhance > Color > Remove Color). * Copy the desaturated layer two more times. Your layer stack should now look like this: From top to bottom, the layers are: Color photo,... See less