How to isolate a color

Hello and welcome to our 8th tutorial on AREA 1!

This is what we’ll be learning how to make today:

So let’s get to work!

Open your image you want to modify in Adobe Photshop. Right click on the image layer and choose Duplicate Layer and then select the original layer and Desature. (SHIFT + CTRL + U)

So now we have 2 layers: the layer above (coloured) and the original layer (black&white).
See Screenshot 1.
Select the coloured layer and add a layer mask.
See Screenshot 2.

Now, be sure that you have selected the mask not the layer and
See Screenshot 3.
choose the Eraser Tool and starting erasing the parts you want to change the color.
See Screenshot 4.

That’s it! Hope you’ll enjoy this tutorial! Please leave a comment & thanks for the visit.



You can discuss this tutorial on the forum, click HERE.

IrfanView

What is IrfanView?
IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista.

It is trying to be simple for beginners and powerful for professionals.


IrfanView is trying to create new and/or interesting features in its own way, unlike some other graphic viewers, whose whole “creativity” is based on feature cloning, stealing of ideas and whole dialogs from ACDSee and/or IrfanView! (for example: XnView has been stealing/cloning features and whole dialogs from IrfanView, for 8+ years).


IrfanView was the first Windows graphic viewer WORLDWIDE with Multiple (animated) GIF support.
One of the first graphic viewers WORLDWIDE with Multipage TIF support.
The first graphic viewer WORLDWIDE with Multiple ICO support.


I am using it since long time ago and I am very satisfied. You should try it!


Read more here and download here.




You can discuss this tutorial on the forum, click HERE.

15 Abstract Brushes

I’ve selected some brushes from users on Deviantart.com:

Click on the name to go to the users page and download them:
1 – Brush Set 1
2 – Brush Set 2
3 – Brush Set 3
4 – Brush Set 4
5 – Brush Set 5
6 – Brush Set 6
7 – Brush Set 7
8 – Brush Set 8
9 – Brush Set 9
10 – Brush Set 10
11 – Brush Set 11
12 – Brush Set 12
13 – Brush Set 13
14 – Brush Set 14
15 – Brush Set 15



You can discuss this tutorial on the forum, click HERE.

20 Adobe Photoshop Tricks

Francesco Mugnai shows some tips & tricks for Adobe Photoshop users:

1 ) If you hold down ALT+CTRL+SHIFT (Mac: CMD+OPT+SHIFT) while starting Photoshop you can reset all the Photoshop settings back to factory default. Very usefull if you have problems with some tools or the interface.

2 ) One of my favorites. ALT+Click on the “eye” icon in the layer’s palette to hide all other layers.

3 ) Do you have trouble to find the cursor when you work with large canvases?
Simply press the spacebar and you’ll see the hand icon where the cursor is located.

4 ) When you are applying a “drop shadow” layer effect, try to leave open the dialog box.
You’ll be able to move the shadow with a simple drag and drop.

5 ) With a CTRL+Click on the triangle icon you can collapse or expand all layer groups.

6 ) Another cool shortcut. Press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E (Mac: CMD+OPT+SHIFT+E) to paste all the visible layers in a new one.

7 ) When you are in a dialog box, try to hold ALT(Mac: OPT) to transform the “cancel” button into a “reset” button. It doesnt work everywhere.

8 ) If you want to transform a path into a selection you have to press CTRL+ENTER (Mac: CMD-ENTER).

9 ) CTRL+ALT+Z (Mac: CTRL+OPT+ Z) to undo more than once.

10 ) Double Click on the stage (the gray area) to open a file or CTRL+Double Click to create a new file.

11 ) If you hold SHIFT while you click “File -> close”, Photoshop will close all the open windows at the same time.

12 ) ALT+CLICK (Mac: OPT+Click) a tool to switch through the related tools. For example, try ALT+Click (Mac: OPT+Click) on the Paint bucket tool, you will obtain the gradient tool.

13 ) CTRL+Click on the new layer incon to create a new layer immediately below the current layer.

14 ) Whit SHIFT+CTRL+ALT+T (Mac: SHIFT+CMD+OPT+T) you can repeat and clone the last transformation (made with CTRL+T).

15 ) To find the center of a document select the background layer and click CTRL+T (Mac: CMD+T) to see a crosshair in the middle. Now you can simply drag out a guide in this point to find the center.

16 ) When you have a selection hold CTRL and use the arrows to move it, one pixel at a time.
Use CTRL+SHIFT to move the selection by 10×10 pixels. With CTRL+SHIFT+D (Mac: CMD+SHIFT+T) you can load the last selection used.

17 ) Choose CTRL+0 to “zoom to fit”, CTRL+ALT+0 to “zoom to 100%”.
If you prefer you can zoom back to 100% pressing the space bar and then right click -> actual pixels.

18 ) With the type tool active press CTRL+T (mAC: CMD+T) to show and hide the respective palette.
Press CTRL+H (Mac: CMD+H) while a text is selected to show and hide the selection.

19 ) If you are working with the paint bucket tool, hold down ALT(OPT) to switch temporarily to the eyedropper tool.

20 ) To draw a straight line with the brush tool click where you want, hold down shift and then click again where you want.
Instead, to draw a dotted line you have to open the brush palette (hit F5) and from the “Brush Tip Shape” tab you have to set the “spacing” to 150%.
After that you can repeat the previous step like a normal straight line.

Source: Francesco Mugnai’s blog




You can discuss this tutorial on the forum, click HERE.

How to create a dream effect

Hello and welcome to our seventh tutorial on AREA 1!

This is what we’ll be learning how to make today:

So let’s get started!

Open your Adobe Photoshop, make a new file (width: 500, height: 500) and then copy your image/photo. Right click on the image/photo layer and click Duplicate Layer.
See Screenshot 1.

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
See Screenshot 2.
and set it to 5.
See Screenshot 3.

Change the layers blend mode to Hard Light.
See Screenshot 4.

And that’s it!

Here’s my final result: Screenshot 5.

Hope you’ll enjoy this tutorial! Please leave a comment & thanks for the visit.



You can discuss this tutorial on the forum, click HERE.

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