By Chad Neuman

This is an often-requested technique from some of my university students, so here’s a tutorial on it. Sometimes you may need to cut out the background from part of a photo and keep the background transparent. Reasons for this include needing a transparent background in a web page design or in an InDesign file. Here’s how to do this.

Step 1
Open an image in Adobe Photoshop.

Step 2
Here’s an important step, because Background layers do not keep deleted pixels as transparent. Double-click on the Background layer in the Layers palette and name the layer (Layer 0 is fine) and click OK. This allows the layer to have a transparent background once we delete some pixels.

Step 3
Use a Selection tool to create a selection of the element to keep. I will go over advanced selection techniques in another tutorial; for this example, we can use the Quick Selection tool or the Polygonal Lasso tool to click around the area and go to Select>Inverse to select everything but the element we want to keep. In this example, it’s the snowboarder. We can refine the edge of the selection by going to Select>Refine Edge if needed.

Step 4
Once the area needed to be transparent is selected, press Delete (PC: Backspace) to delete those pixels. The checkerboard pattern means those pixels are transparent.

Step 5
Here’s another important step. If you save this file as a JPEG, the background will be filled with pixels. Instead, save the file as a GIF (and keep transparency in the save options) or PNG if you need a transparent file for a web site design. If you need to incorporate an element from a photo with a transparent background in an InDesign file, you can save it as a normal Photoshop file (PSD) since they are both owned by Adobe and seamless. When placing the PSD file in InDesign, the file will retain its transparency.

by Chad Neuman

This technique can be useful when creating brochure, web site, or poster designs. Creating duplicated layers from selections and then applying layer styles to them is a simple yet effective technique. Let’s get started.

Step 1
Open an image in Adobe Photoshop.

Step 2
Press Cmd-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate the Background layer so we’re working on a copy.

Step 3
Select the Marquee Selection tool and click-and-drag a square (Hold Shift to create a square rather than a rectangle).

Step 4
We need to save the exact square shape for all three layers we will make, so go to Select>Save Selection and name and save it.

Step 5
Next, press Cmd-J (Ctrl-J) to duplicate just what was selected. I click the Eye icon on Layer 1 and the Background layer to show the new layer, Layer 2.

Step 6
Click Layer 1 in the Layers palette to make sure it is selected, and go to Select>Load Selection.

Step 7
Now we need to move the selection to the right. With the Marquee Selection tool selected, hover the mouse inside the edge of the selection and it should turn into an arrow. Holding Shift to maintain a straight line, click-and-drag the selection to the right until it is a few picas over. You may want to use the Rulers (View>Rulers) to make sure you’ve dragged the selection over enough so it does not overlap where the original selection was. Then click Cmd-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to duplicate another area to a new layer. I clicked the Eye icon on Layer 1 and the Background layer again to show these two new layers.

Step 8
Next, repeat steps 6 and 7 but move the selection over even more an even amount so we can duplicate a third layer. Try toggling Layer 1 on and off with the Eye icon to make sure we duplicate the area at about an even interval. It doesn’t have to be exact unless your design calls for it; I am mostly worried about avoiding overlapping.

Step 9
Now let’s add some layer styles. With Layer 2 selected, apply a layer style by going to Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow. Try the settings shown here.

Step 10
Now instead of having to add a layer style to each again with those steps, we can press Option (PC: Alt) and click-and-drag the Drop Shadow from Layer 2 to Layer 3 and Layer 4 in the Layers palette.

Step 11
There we go!

Try different layer styles by clicking-and-dragging the styles to the trash icon on the Layers palette and then applying new ones.

This one has a Stroke and Inner Shadow applied.

This one has an Outer Glow, Inner Glow, and Drop Shadow

by Chad Neuman

Adjusting the opacity of shapes and lines can help create interesting designs for flyers, advertisements, or magazine layouts. Here’s a basic technique to add to your design repertoire.

Step 1
Create a new document at 1024×768 pixels and 72 pixels/inch. Click-and-hold the Rectangle tool to get to the Ellipse tool and select it.

Step 2
Click-and-drag a circle, holding Shift to maintain proportion. Click the color on the Options palette and change it to #0e71cd.

Step 3
Click-and-drag a slightly smaller circle, and change the color to #f3a704.

Step 4
Click-and-drag another circle, with the color #10ae00.

Step 5
Click-and-drag the fourth circle, with the color #f6f900. Click-and-drag this shape layer below the previous one in the Layers palette.

Step 6
Change the Transparency of each shape layer to 50% in the Layers palette.

Step 7
Open a night photo and click-and-drag it with the Move tool onto the transparent shapes file. Click-and-drag the new layer below the shapes.

Step 8
Add some white text with the Text tool above the other layers.

Step 9
Click the New Layer icon on the bottom of the Layers palette and select the Brush tool. Change the Brush to soft brush, 65. Click-and-drag some lines. Again, we need to adjust the Opacity. Change the lines slightly, to 95% in the Layers palette.

My wife and I went to Crested Butte, Colorado, recently for spring break. We snowboarded for a few days and enjoyed the outdoors, taking a few photos along the way. One sure thing to do when enjoying the outdoors is to take panoramic shots. You don’t need a wide-angle lens to capture the vast expanse of outdoor landscapes photography. A technique I and many other photographers utilize is to take overlapping shots of a landscape and merge them later in Photoshop. Photoshop CS3 has a few new features and options to consider.

First, let’s go over some tips for when shooting these types of photos.

1. Hopefully, you’re using an SLR camera with an adjustable shutter speed and aperture. Don’t let the shutter speed and aperture change between shots; this would cause the resulting merged photo to not match up. Some parts of the resulting photo would have more exposure with a wider aperture and slower shutter speed. The depth of field would also differ with different aperture settings. So use manual mode, and remember what settings the shutter speed and aperture are set to and keep them the same for each shot.

2. Once you focus on the first photo, turn the lens to manual focus. This way, you control the focus of each shot, which should be the same for all of them.

3. Shoot the shots with the SLR camera held vertically, so more if covered at the top and bottom of the shot.

4. Be sure to overlap each shot about a quarter of the previous shot, so they overlap. We should avoid any blank areas in between obviously.

5. Before the first shot, take a photo of something unique, like your hand or snow glove in this case. After the last shot of the series, do that same thing. This way, you know which shot if the first in the panoramic series and which is the last, when you later browse the folder on your computer.
 
Step 1
Now let’s get started. For this example, I didn’t use my SLR camera, because I didn’t feel like lugging up the bigger Canon Rebel while snowboarding, especially since it’s more expensive than the one I brought, a Ccanon Powershot. I can put the Powershot in my pocket while snowboarding, so it was more convenient. But using an SLR is ideal for the reasons listed above. Go ahead and start up Photoshop CS3. Here’s there six images that we’ll be using from the support files.

Step 2
Go to File>Automate>Photomerge.

Step 3
A dialog will open that lists a few different options. “Auto” tells Photoshop to choose the best setting and apply it. It has less flexibility, but is quick and to the point. “Perspective” sets the image in a perspective that includes  less barrel distortion, while “Cylindrical” has more barrel distortion. “Reposition Only” simply does that—repositions the images but doesn’t change the perspective. “Interactive Layout” allows a few more options, so let’s choose that.

Step 4
Click Browse and select the images from the support files by clicking-and-dragging over them in the dialog. Click OK and the images will now be listed in the dialog. If we had already had the files open, they would already be listed there. Click OK to merge the photos.

Step 5
The Reposition Only option shows how the photos would look like if they were just copied and pasted next to each other.

Step 6
Clicking the Perspective option on the right adds perspective to the photo, rather than a “flat” look.

Step 7
The tools on the left side let you select and move the photos (the selection tool), move the view around (the move view tool), and the rotate and zoom tools let you rotate and zoom into the photos. The other one is the set vanishing point tool, which can be used when perspective is selected. Click somewhere to set the vanishing point. This example shows moving the vanishing point to the side of the photo.

Step 8
I pressed Ctrl-Z (Mac: Cmd-Z) to undo that tool. Select either perspective or reposition only and press OK to merge the photos.

Step 9
Notice how each layer is a partially-masked photo.

Step 10
Select the crop tool and crop out the empty pixels.

Using the photomerge tool is a great way to create breath-taking landscape photos. Here’s a few more examples.

to save some time so you’re not doing repetitive things in Adobe Photoshop? Look no further than the Actions palette. Let’s say you to need to adjust settings, add a filter, resize, or any of the other many options in Photoshop to a large number of photos. Instead of having to go through each photo one at a time, applying effects, resizing, or adjusting levels for example, it’s much easier to edit one photo and record the actions. Then, we can apply that action to an entire folder of images.

Step 1
Go ahead and get a bunch of photos and place them into a folder. Open one of the photos in Photoshop. Select one which we’ll edit and record the changes for the action. Go to Window>Actions to open the Actions palette.

Step 2
Click the Create New Action icon on the bottom of the Actions palette.

Step 3
Name is “Black and White Thumbnail” and click Record. There are some other options, such as assigning a Function Key or changing the set of actions it’s placed, but leave those for this example as we don’t want to assign a function key and want to keep it in the default actions set.

Step 4
Everything we do next will be recorded as a step in the action. While there are many ways to convert an image to black and white, such as going to Image>Adjustments>Black and White, let’s do a simple desaturation for this example. Go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation and drag the saturation to the left and click OK.

Step 5
Go to Image>Image Resize and change the Height to 200. As long as the Constrain Proportions is checked, the Width should resize automatically. Click OK.

Step 6
Now that it’s black and white and resized to a thumbnail, we need to add a border. Double-click the Background layer in the Layers palette and click OK to make it a normal layer that we can apply layer styles to. Go to Layer>Layer Style>Stroke. Change the Position to Inside, the Size to 2 and click OK.

Step 7
Now we need to save it with certain settings. Go to File>Save As and save it as a JPEG to a new folder named Thumbnails. Finally, click the Stop Playing/Recording icon on the bottom of the Actions palette. Now we have created an action that converted a color image to a black and white, resizes it to a thumbnail, adds a 2-point interior stroke, and then saves it as a JPEG. Close the file and don’t save changes so we don’t erase the original file.

Step 8
Now that we’ve created the action titled Black and White Thumbnail, go to File>Automate>Batch. Set the Action to Black and White Thumbnail. Click the Choose button near the source folder setting and find and select the folder of images to apply the action to. Click the Choose button near the Destination folder setting and find and select the folder to save the thumbnail images to. I set the source folder to one called Photos and I set the destination folder to one called Thumbnails. Also make sure to check Override Action “Save As” Commands since we already have a save command in the action.

Step 9
Now all seven photos from the source folder, originally full color and large size, have been saved as black and white thumbnails with a border in a separate folder. Remember, instead of editing photos one at time, when we want to edit many of them with the same effects, try actions instead.

1. Shoot about 30 minutes before and after sunset.
A sunset is a great thing to capture, but even if you’re not shooting the sunset but instead shooting at a 90-degree angle to the sunset or even shooting with the sunset at your back, having that subtle light brings out the colors in landscape photos. Most outdoor photography magazines won’t even consider shots that haven’t been shot around this time, as well as before/after sunrise.

2. Shoot about 30 minutes before and after sunrise.
As well as before and after sunset, shooting before and after sunrise causes a lot of detail and tone to be seen. The lighting avoids being overexposed, which happens many times when shooting in the middle of the day with harsh light. For portraits, you can shoot in the shade for subtle light even during the middle of the day, but with landscapes, you can’t put the entire landscape into the shade. You have to rely on the weather for that. You can shoot a little longer after sunrise if there’s some slight cloud cover, but usually an hour or two after sunrise and it’s already really bright.

This is an example of a slightly underexposed landscape photo. It’s not shot during the right amount of light, and was shot when the sun was too far down or with too much cloud cover.

3. Have a foreground, middleground, and background.
This is part of the rule of thirds, which I cover in the next tip. Make sure you have three elements in landscape shot in order to make it more aesthetically pleasing. For example, if there are some seagulls running on the beach along the shore, that can be the foreground, while the middleground would be the waves crashing and part of the ocean, and the distant ocean and horizon would be the background.

4. Use the rule of thirds.
The rule of thirds applies to landscape photography as well. Imagine drawing out a tic-tac-toe design, with two lines running vertically and two horizontally. The plane is divided into three equal parts. Try to put the subject where these lines meet; for example, to top left or top right or bottom left or bottom right.

In this photo, the umbrella is in the lower right corner.

The angles and placement of the two objects near the upper left corner work well here.

5. To include as much as the scenery possible, use a long depth of field.
Using a more closed aperture makes the depth of field longer (and the f-stop setting a higher number). This allows for more things to be in focus. While blurring out the background is sometimes preferred, with landscape photos, we often want to have many elements in focus.

In this photo, the camera focuses on the grass, but we want the depth of field to be high so we can see more of the landscape as well.

This is one example where we can see the detail of even elements far away.

6. Don’t put the horizon in the middle of the shot.
This tip is closely related to the rule of thirds tip: don’t put subjects (the subject being the horizon in this example) in the middle of the shot. While many beginning photographers may be inclined to divide the photo in half, having the horizon the top third, or even top fifth or top eighth, is much better, as is having the horizon in the bottom third, fifth, or eighth. This allows us to focus on either the sky or the ocean or earth so we have some kind of focus.

7. If the sun is harsh, shoot away from it to get blue skies. Shooting close to where the sun is causes the areas to be blown out.

This example of the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood shows how areas are blown out when shooting to close to the sun.

8. Finally, keep the horizon level.
This one may seem obvious, and although there are times when the horizon may need to not be level to accommodate a better composition of a subject, keeping the horizon level when possible is good practice.

This is one example where the horizon isn’t level. We’ll fix it in the next part of this article.

For a bonus addition to this feature article, here’s a short tutorial on making a horizon level.

1. Open an image with a horizon that’s not level. Instead of having to guess the angle to fix this at, here’s a short method that is lot more effective. You can use this image and save it to the computer and open in Photoshop. Download support file

2. Click-and-hold the Eyedropper tool to pull out the menu. Click on the Ruler tool.

3. Click-and-drag the Ruler tool along the crooked horizon.

4. Go to Image>Rotate Canvas>Arbitrary.

5. The degree of angle will be set to change the ruler to being level. Press OK.

6. Now we have some areas to crop out. Select the Crop tool.

7. Finally, we have a level horizon. We did change the composition though because areas had to be cropped out, so weigh the pros and cons before adjusting a horizon.

If you have a nice photo of a model, but she or he wasn’t smiling and you want the photo to feature a smiling face, or vice versa, you can use Photoshop to slightly tweak the facial expressions. The key is to be subtle in your approach, unless you are creating a caricature or cartoon. With the Liquify tool, we can create some subtle changes to model photos that can affect the overall mood of the face and therefore affect the mood of the photo.

Step 1
Open up an image of a face. You can save this JPEG image as well to use.

© ISTOCKPHOTO / JOEY NELSON

Step 2
Go to Filter>Liquify.

Step 3
Click the Forward Warp tool, which is the top tool on the right-hand side of the liquefy screen. This tool lets us move pixels slightly in order to produce certain effects. Notice at the bottom of the screen, the Hand tool is available for moving around the view of the image, and the Zoom tool is available to zoom in to the image.

Step 4
Notice on the right-hand side of the Liquify screen, we have some more options. After selecting the Forward Ward tool, there are some brush settings there we can change. I have mine set to the default, but it’s a little bit too big of a brush.

Step 5
We could change the size there, but let’s use a shortcut. The brush is too big as we see here. Just press the left bracket [ to make the brush smaller. Press it a few times. Press the right bracket ] to make the brush size larger.

Step 6
Press the left bracket [ until the brush size is set to about 30. Position it at the corner of the model’s lips, and we’re going to click-and-drag it gently upward.

Step 7
By clicking-and-dragging then letting of at the corner of the lips, we’ve added a slight smirk to the model.

Step 8
If you want to zoom in, try the Zoom tool or use the shortcut Cmd and the + or – sign (PC: Ctrl and the + or – sign). Press the space bar to use the Hand tool to move around the image as well. Now let’s change the nose slightly. The nose looks perfect to me, but let’s change it for learning sake. Choose the ASDASDSA tool from the left-hand side of the Liquify screen.

Step 9
Hover over the nostril and click-and-hold for a second, which will make the nostrils slightly smaller. The key is subtlety.

Step 10
If you don’t like the modified look, just press Cmd-Option-Z (PC: Ctrl-Alt-Z) to step backwards a step. Here’s a before and after look. In the first one the model looks more serious, and in the second one she has a slight smirk. Again, the key is subtlety, unless you want a cartoonish and unrealistic look.

Step 11
Notice with this example, I created a slight smile with this model as well. But I also used a slight modification with the Twirl Clockwise tool, the third option from the top on the right-hand side of the Liquify screen, to not only lift her smile but twirl it a little.