Posts Tagged ‘Photoshop Elements’

Add a 35mm transparency slide frame border to a photo using Photoshop CC, CS, or Elements

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In this tutorial we'll look at how you can create a replica 35mm transparency slide frame to add as a border around a photo. The process is pretty much the same in Photoshop CC, CS, or Photoshop Elements. I'll also cover how to add text to the frame, which allows you to add branding or information to the image without covering up any of the actual photo.

Add a 35mm transparency slide frame border to a photo using Photoshop CC, CS, or Elements

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

November 1st, 2015 at 3:50 pm

How to add a vintage haze effect to your photos

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Photos with a soft, low contrast hazy look seem to be very popular at the moment. You can purchase packs of film presets for most image editing software that allow you to easily create this look.

I've also seen several Photoshop tutorials that show how to create a similar look, making use of various adjustment layers. However, the look can also be achieved using only RGB curves, which are available in Adobe Camera RAW, Lightroom, Photoshop, GIMP, and the majority of image editing software. No need to purchase anything additional, and no need for multiple layer Photoshop documents.

In this article I'll cover both creating the hazy look in-camera and using RGB curves. Plus, I'll explain why the curves adjustments create the effect, so you'll better understand how you can modify the curves to fine-tune the effect.

How to add a vintage haze effect to your photos

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Create crazy colored lighting with a single uncolored light

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In this article we'll look at how you can create unusual images that look like they were taken with red, green, and blue lights, but are actually a composite of three different images taken with any light source (colored or not).

I'll cover how to create this type of image using a technique that works in Photoshop Elements and the full version of Photoshop (CS / CC), plus two alternative techniques that you can use in the full version of Photoshop.

Create crazy colored lighting with a single uncolored light

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

December 28th, 2014 at 7:50 pm

Create a Hand-Colored Black and White Photo

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Before the advent of color photography, a process of hand coloring black and white photos was sometimes used. Color (often using watercolors) was simply painted on top of the photograph, to create a color image.

This process gives the images quite a unique look. In this article I want to look at how you can do the same, giving any image that hand-colored black and white photo look.

Create a Hand-Colored Black and White Photo

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How to use a green screen to put a different background behind your subject

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Have you ever wanted to extract a subject from one photo and then place them in another photo? For example, taking a photo of your child in their sports kit, and then making it look like they're playing in a full size stadium.

This process of mixing images together is known as compositing, and is becoming increasingly popular. While it might sound difficult, it can actually be very easy. The trick is taking the photo of your subject against a background that makes it easy to extract the subject from the background.

Private School Girl
Private School Girl by "PictureYouth" on flickr (licensed CC-BY)

For this purpose a green screen (also known as chroma key) background is often used. In this article we'll look at how to take a photo using a green screen, and then how to use photo editing software to remove the green screen and composite the image.

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How to get a white background and properly exposed subject with only one light

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Clean white backgrounds can work well for some images, particularly product photography. There are two different ways that a white background is normally achieved:

  • Aiming a light at the background so the bright light bounces back off the background.
  • Using a semi-transparent background, and placing a light behind the background to shoot through it.

However, there can be a bit of a problem if you only have one light to work with. If you use your light to blow out the background to pure white, then how are you going to light your subject? And vice versa if you use the light to light your subject.

Thankfully Photoshop (or most other image editing programs) can come to the rescue.

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How to add a texture to a photo in Photoshop

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Adding a texture overlay to a photo can be a quick and easy way to create a distressed, vintage look. Depending on the texture and any other effects applied, you can achieve looks from a slightly old photo to a painting on canvas.

In this article I'll cover how to add a texture to a photo in Photoshop Elements / CS. The process is very similar in other image editing software as well, so if you don't have a copy of Photoshop, hopefully this guide will still give you a good idea of how the texturing process works.

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How to simulate a shallow depth of field and blur the background in Photoshop Elements and CS

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In this article we'll look at how to use image editing software to blur the background of a photo while keeping the subject sharp. This is a good way to help draw viewer's attention to your subject, rather than the background.

Although it is best to achieve a blurred background in-camera (see previous article: How to take photos with a blurred background by using a shallow depth of field), this is not always possible. In this case we can use image editing software to simulate the effect of a shallow depth of field instead.

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Creating a sunburst sunset poster background in Photoshop

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Recently I was asked to create a poster to advertise an event. As a background image for the poster, I decided I wanted a nice sunset image with sunbeams emanating from the clouds.

Looking at my (rather meager) stock library of cloud photos, I couldn't find anything that looked like what I wanted. But I knew that with a little help from Photoshop I could get the image I was looking for.

So, I thought I'd share how I created the background image for the poster. Hopefully you will find it helpful.

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

January 28th, 2013 at 10:46 am

Photoshop tutorial: Create a dreamy glowing effect portrait

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In this tutorial I'll show you an easy way to add a dreamy glowing effect to a portrait photo. As usual, I'll demonstrate the process using Photoshop Elements, but the process is the same in the full version of Photoshop CS, and should be similar in other image editing software.

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Written by Discover Digital Photography

December 29th, 2012 at 11:45 am