Photoshopping

[mrv3000]

For angst_angel (who I will thwack very hard if she was just pulling my chain).



Borders (down and dirty):

1. Over in your Layers box (on the bottom right - if not there, click "Window" then make sure "Layers" is checked), right click on the word Background
   
   
2. Click "Duplicate Layer". Then click OK.
   
   
3. Left click once on the new Background Copy so it's selected.
   
   
4. Click the menu - "Layer", "Layer Style", "Stroke"
   
   
5. Change the Position to Inside - and change the size and color to your liking. Ta da!

To change brushes:

1. In your tools box, click on the thing that looks like a brush. *g*
   
   
2. Your bar right below your menu should change. Click in the box right after "Brush:" and you can change the size and the shape.

Resizing the canvas to fit the picture:

1. Well, I rarely change the size of the canvas (unless I'm doing something funky)...I usually just change the size of the image and the canvas changes automatically. On the menu, click "Image", "Image Size". You'll probably want to keep "Constrain Proportions" checked for now.
   
   
2. Handy little hint for after you re-size something - I've found that clicking "Filter", "Sharpen", "Sharpen" *after* re-sizing it can make it all sharp and purty. Sometimes it doesn't look quite right, but most times it brings the pic more into focus. (e.g. the pic on my LJ. *pats sharp, in focus pic*

Comments

[woodface]

I still prefer Contrast *g*

[nhawk.livejournal.com]

Or you could adjust the "Curves" setting- that looks good ;p

[woodface]

Yeah that if Contrast doesn't work. You change a bit with Curves *g*

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Curves - now that's something I haven't played with yet. Where is that? And what does it do?

[nhawk.livejournal.com]

Go into Image>Adjust>Curves and first try hitting "Auto" and see if you like the result. I use "Auto" a lot. But it does depend on the properties of the picture, sometimes it does nothing, other times it brings out the colours and the contrasts really nicely etc.

If you don't like what "Auto" does, try clicking just above or below the line on the curve graph and see what happens. You can get some funky looking effects doing that.

My icon I'm using in this comment was done by adjusting the curves and using a brush on colour dodge. :)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

COOL! Thanks! I'll have to try that out!

[nhawk.livejournal.com]

Hee! Have fun. I really know so little about PS. I just fiddle until something happens. I guess one day I'll actually read some instructions on how to do things properly :)

[mrv3000.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. Most of what I know is just from messing around. *g*