Anyone who joins the online digiscrapping communities will notice the popularity of blinking avatars and ‘blinkies’. This tutorial teaches you how to easily create your very own blinking avatars and blinkies in Photoshop CS-CS5.
There are a few more steps to create a blinkie in older versions of Photoshop CS than in Photoshop Elements but once you know how you will be creating dozens of blinking avatars and blinkies! The blinkie size I have used in this instance is 125×60 pixels, another common blinkie size is 150×50 pixels. The avatar size limit on most scrapping forums is 125x125pixels so this is a good size to create your avatar’s at.
Firstly you need to create your design, and this needs to be a layered image, as showing and hiding the layers enables you to create each frame of the blinkie.
For the purpose of this tutorial I will be using the top three layers as ‘blinking’ layers for the blinkie. You can use any combination of layers you wish to create a frame for your blinkie. In this instance I will keep it simple and only ‘blink’ the top three layers.
Once you have all your layers ready to go you then need to begin the animation process. To do this, go to the file menu and choose Edit in ImageReady.
Note: This step is unnecessary in Photoshop CS3+ as animations are now done within Photoshop itself. Simply click on the window menu and click on Animation to open the Animation window while still in Photoshop.
Image Ready will open up (this can sometimes take some time to load) with your image in it, and no longer in Photoshop. If you need to go back and fix something you can just choose Edit in Photoshop from the file menu of Image Ready. Be warned however if you do this you should do so before you begin the animation process as it can play havoc with your frames. If you need to do it after you have started adding new frames, first delete the extra frames and then do your editing in Photoshop before coming back to Image Ready.
Next you need to open the Animation window, in image ready or in Photoshop CS3+.
Go to the Window menu and ensure that the Animation option is checked. This will ensure you have the animation window open.
To create each frame we need to turn on the layers we want visible and off the layers we don’t. You can do this by clicking on the eye next to each layer. If there is no eye next to the layer, it means the layer’s visibility has been turned off. In the above sample we have turned off the ‘Love’ and ‘CD’ Layers which will be for the first frame of our blinkie. For this blinkie the first layer only has the ‘I’ layer visible.
Here we have the Animation window visible. This is where we create each frame of the animation. Here we need to ensure it is set to forever. This allows the blinkie to continue blinking. If it is set to once, it will only go through the frames once and then stop.
The frame delay is the length of time in seconds the frame will appear. You can set different time values for each frame if you wish. For instance if something takes a little longer to read you can make it a longer frame delay. If it is just an outside border which flickers, you can set it to a short delay so that it blinks quickly. For the purpose of this tutorial we will set all the frame delay’s at 0.5 seconds.
Once the first frame is set, following new frames are defaulted at the same value, but can be changed if you wish.
We already had the first frame ready to go, and just had to adjust the frame delay. Now we are ready to create the second frame. First we need to click on the New Frame Icon circled above.
Next we need to make the layers visible that we want to appear in the second frame of the blinkie. Above shows the second layer we want visible.
Here is the third frame we wish to have for the blinkie, showing the layers which are visible for this frame. We have now finished creating the frames for the blinkie and it is now ready to be saved into gif format.
Note: In CS3+ this step is now done through Save For Web & Devices (file menu). The settings are on the right hand side of the window. If you wish to view the quality settings, click on the two up tab. This allows you to view the Original file on the left, and your adjusted settings on the right. You can use the play button at the bottom right of the window to view your animation before saving. Once you are happy with your settings click on save and save to your computer.
Photoshop CS3+ Save For Web & Devices
Back to prior photoshop versions…
Next we need to make sure that gif is selected in the optimize palette. If you need to compress the image a little further and reduce the file size you can try adjusting the number of colours, however this can reduce the viewing quality of the image. If file size is not an issue you will not need to adjust any of the other settings.
For the purpose of this tutorial I have left all the settings at their defaults.
Now it is time to save our image! Go to the file menu and choose Save Optimized As. Choose an easy to find spot on your hard drive to save your blinkie and you are done!
Drop shadows can have a dramatic affect on your layouts and can provide a variety of different effects and looks. Adjusting a drop shadow can really make your layout pop, or can spoil it. The trick is creating the right type of drop shadow for the effect you are trying to create.
Below is a photo with six different drop shadows to illustrate the different effects a drop shadow can give.
The first image has a subtle drop shadow, a short distance from the image, with the shadow being heavier on two sides of the photo, illustrating that the light source is coming from the top left. The small size of the shadow also suggests that the photo is likely to be directly on top of the background paper as it might be on a traditional paper layout.
The second photo has a heavier and larger drop shadow again heavier on two sides of the photo indicating that the light source is coming from the top left. The increased size and softness to the drop shadow makes the photo appear that it might be further away from the background paper. Such a shadow might also be used for objects such as page pebbles, or other embellishments which would appear to be thicker in real life than a photo. In this instance, used on a photo which is less than a millimetre thick, it makes the photo appear to float on the page.
The third photo has a very large drop shadow and is much softer looking than the previous two. The shadow has dispersed just as shadows do in real life when an object is a distance from something. The closer the object is to where the shadow is being cast, the darker, smaller and sharper the shadow will become. This shadow makes the photo appear as if it is floating some distance above the page and does not lend itself towards a realistic looking paper style layout as much as the first shadow does.
The fourth photo has a small brown drop shadow with the colour altered from black to dark brown. The shadow is set at zero distance giving an even size around the photo and indicating that the light source might be directly above the photo. This form of drop shadow gives a lovely soft look and is useful for creating a realistic and soft looking shadow around the photo. This effect is particularly useful for freestyle layouts and a variety of other effects and looks.
The fifth photo has a larger, softer drop shadow, at zero distance with the colour altered from black to dark brown. The shadow has also had noise added to give a less even look. The size of the drop shadow does not lend itself to a realistic photo on top of paper look, however it does almost give the appearance that the photo is set behind the paper instead of on top of it. To enhance this effect you may wish to reduce the opacity of the shadow and include an inner shadow on the photo itself. It is another style of drop shadow which may be useful for freestyle layouts.
The sixth photo does not look at all like it has a drop shadow but like it has a frame around it or that the paper may have been embossed. This look was achieved by using zero distance, changing the colour to dark brown and experimenting with the contour of the drop shadow. Once again, not a very realistic looking drop shadow, but perhaps an interesting effect to experiment with!
Knowing how to make the most of your drop shadows is a very useful tool to have under your belt and it can be fun to experiment with them. Why not give it a go in your next layout?
In this tutorial I am going to demonstrate a quick and easy way to cut shapes from Digital Scrapbook Papers/Backgrounds in Photoshop. This method will work in all versions of Photoshop.
First we need to create a new layer above the paper layer.
I am going to cut a heart shape from my paper, and will use the custom shape tool to create the heart to cut my paper with. The custom shape tool can be found above the hand tool on the left hand tool bar.
Once you have clicked this tool you will see the custom shapes menu appear in the above menu bar.
First you need to ensure the Fill Pixels button is selected.
Once the Fill Pixels button is selected you can go ahead and click on the Custom Shape Picker to choose your shape. Photoshop has several preinstalled shapes, but you can also create or add more.
I will use a Photoshop custom shape for the purpose of this tutorial. The shape I am using is called Heart Card.
Click on the Heart Card Shape to select that custom shape. Click on your new layer to ensure it is selected. Using your mouse, click and drag over the canvas to create your shape. Hold down the SHIFT key while doing so to maintain aspect ratio. (keep the shape in the correct proportions) Holding down the SHIFT key is a good tip to maintain aspect ratio when resizing any object in Photoshop.
You can now see on the layers palette that there is a layer with your custom shape and the layer underneath with the paper.
Next we need to hold down the CTRL key and click on the shape layer to select the outline of the shape. When you do this you will see ‘marching ants’ appear around the outline of the shape.
Now we need to select the paper layer so that we can cut the shape from it.
Once the paper layer is selected, you can use the Edit>Copy command or press CTRL and C to copy.
Now we need to open a new canvas to paste the shape onto.
Ensure the background contents are selected as transparent and click on OK.
Now use the Edit>Paste command or press CTRL and V to paste. You will now have your shaped paper in a new canvas, to save or drag to your layout.
Once you have dragged the shape onto your layout add a drop shadow to complete the look!
Have you ever thought about experimenting with Shutter Speeds on your camera? You can achieve some interesting effects by using slower than normal shutter speeds. Unfortunately not all camera’s are able to do it but most SLR’s and higher end compact camera’s can. You will need a tripod or stable surface to keep your camera nice and still.
You can achieve some very interesting patterns and effects by using slower shutter speeds than normally required to capture the action. Lower light conditions are usually required to achieve the slow shutter speed effects. The image above was taken from a stair case at twilight in a large crowd.
The lower light enabled me to use a slow shutter speed to blur the action. The faster movements are more blurred and ghost like and the movements not quite as fast, have slightly less blur to them.
You may have seen a similar technique used on photographs of moving water, such as a waterfall or stream. It can produce some very interesting dreamy looking effects.
The image to the right is a photo I did late in the afternoon of a small waterfall at a nearby park. I used a shutter speed of 15-30 seconds to create the effect of the softly blurred movement of the water. Because there is no movement in the rocks they remain nice and sharp.
You can also combine slower shutter speeds with a burst of flash to show both movement and capture detail in an image.
The following image is at a Christmas Concert at twilight. My son had a light up candle that had various colours within the light. We had a wonderful time experimenting with shutter speeds of around 1/10th of a second, and using a burst of flash to capture more than just the light trail.
The slower shutter speed enabled the light trail to be captured, and then a quick burst of flash allowed the image of my son at the end of the exposure to be nice and sharp. The light trail shows because it is brighter than the surroundings and it appears on the image first, with the darker elements needing the help of the flash to be seen on the image. The quick burst means it is nice and sharp.
You can do some wonderful light trails just using the slower exposure without the flash. Because the bright object such as this candle or sparklers is so much brighter than the surroundings, it makes a trail on your image leaving the rest of the exposure dark. Experimenting with shutter speeds is a lot of fun. I encourage you to do it, because it teaches you a lot about the effects of light on your images.
You can produce some interesting selective blur effects with the Lens Blur filter in Photoshop. It is a technique originally created with a specialized camera and sometimes used in advertising images. Following is a quick tutorial on how to create a similar Lens Blur effect in Photoshop. Photoshop gives us a lot more control after the image is taken and how the blur is applied. It is a very effective technique great for emphasising a focal point or drawing the eye to a specific area of your photo.
First, create a selection on you photograph with the Elliptical Marquee tool. (situated on the rectangular marquee button).
Now feather the selection using Feather Selection in the Select – Modify – Feather Selection.
Type in 80 as a feathering range. (can vary depending on photo size)
Click on ok. Your selection may not change much on the screen but it will now be a feathered selection.
Click on Filter – Blur – Lens Blur. This will bring up a window for adjusting your lens blur settings.
Within this window you can adjust your settings. Select invert so that the outside of your subject is blurred. Below are the settings I used, you can adjust yours and experiment with your own settings to get an effect you are happy with.
And here is the final image. I love this effect and I am sure you will find many uses for it as well.
Each month at DSP I hold a Graphically Challenged Challenge! It is a great way to get those creative juices flowing to make graphic style or blendy layouts. I have always loved doing ‘blendy’ layouts and there are several Tutorials at DSP to help you out. Here is one I wrote on using Blend modes in Photoshop. Here are some tutorials on doing graphic style layouts for various different programs. Completing Your First Graphic-Style Page [PS] [PSP] [PSP12] [DIP]
If you want to give graphic style layouts ago, these tutorials are a great place to start. Experimenting with blend modes can bring an extra dimension to your digital scrapbook layouts.
For the monthly Graphically Challenged I usually post an inspiration piece or tutorial to get you started on the challenge. For November the challenge is to incorporate hearts into your layout.
How gorgeous is this inspiration??? I love it’s grungy goodness!
This is my take on this months inspiration and topic. Not quite the bokeh effect shown on the inspiration piece but I loved the idea of blended hearts of the layout.
I used a background paper from my Citrus Funk Page Kit and hearts from my Mocha Dreams Page kit, but used lots of blend modes so they don’t quite look like they do in the kits!
Like the idea of blendy style or graphic layouts? Check out the November Graphically Challenged at DSP!
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