Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial

Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial



This Photoshop tutorial will explain how to create an amazing 3D-like text effect using some gradient fills, lasso tools, and the Dodge and Burn Tools. It is really simple but the final result is great. Lets get started.There are so many Text Effect Photoshop tutorials available, but this one is really one of the best I have found, and I really want you to see where your imagination will take you.



I hope you will be as creative as you could and produce the best text effect in Photoshop that suits your design.



Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial - Step 1

Create a new document, 800×500 pixels, or any other dimensions depending on the text you’re going to create. Then, set the Foreground color to #b7e101, and the Background color to #74a203, and pick the Gradient Tool. 


Choose the Foreground to Background fill, and click the Radial Gradient icon in the Options bar, then click and drag from the center of the document to one of the corners to create the gradient fill.




Create the text in Bold All Caps using the color White and the font Familian with a Size value of 175 pt, then, set the Tracking value in the Character panel (Window -> Character) to 100 to avoid overlapping.




Go to Layer -> Rasterize -> Type to rasterize the text layer, then duplicate the text layer and make the original layer invisible by clicking the eye icon next to it.



Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial - Step 2

Double click the copy text layer to apply a Gradient Overlay effect, and click the Gradient box to create the gradient used.



There are only two colors used: #fffca6 to the left, and #cce80d to the right.



This is how the text should look like.




Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial - Step 3

Go to Edit -> Transform -> Skew, and move the upper corners to get a result similar to the one below. Then press Enter to get out of the Skew Mode.


Pick the Rectangular Marquee Tool, and draw a 5 x 188 px rectangle on top of the first letter. You can check the dimensions in the Info panel (Window -> Info).




Create a new layer on top of all layers then fill the selection with white. Go to Select -> Deselect (or press Ctrl + D) to get rid of the selection.




Go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur and enter 2.5 for the Raduis value.


Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial - Step 4

Create a new 24 x 195 px selection, create another new layer, fill the selection with white, and get rid of the selection




Go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur and enter 9 for the Raduis value this time.




Select both blur layers then go to Layer -> Merge Layers, and rename the merged layer to “Blur”.



Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial - Step 5

Go to Edit -> Transform -> Rotate, and rotate the blurred part as below, then press Enter.



Duplicate the “Blur” layer and move it so that you have blur placed over each letter. Then, select all the Blur layers and merge them (Layer -> Merge Layers).




Ctrl + Click the copy text layer’s thumbnail (icon) to create a selection, then go to Select -> Inverse to invert the selection.




Press Delete to get rid of the outer parts of the blur, then press Ctrl + D to get rid of the selection.




Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial - Step 6

Make the original text layer visible again.



Go to Edit -> Transform -> Skew, and skew this text a bit more to the right. Press Enter when done.



Go to Edit -> Transform -> Scale, and scale the text down vertically. Don’t forget to press Enter after you do so.



Make sure that the original text layer is selected (active), and click the “Lock transparent pixels” icon in the Layers panel. Set the Foreground color to #689106 and pick the Paint Bucket Tool. Un-check the Contiguous box in the Options bar then fill the white part with the Foreground color.



Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial - Step 7

Create a new layer on top of the original text layer. Pick the Polygonal Lasso Tool and draw a selection around the empty areas between the two text layers.



Once you create the selection fill it with the same Foreground color then get rid of the selection (Ctrl + D).



Do the same for the rest of the letters, then merge this layer with the original text layer.



Unusual Text effect Photoshop Tutorial - Step 8

Next we are going to use the Dodge Tool and Burn Tool to lighten and darken certains areas.

Pick the Dodge Tool, set the Range to Midtones and the Exposure to 30% (in the Options bar). If you are working on edges you’ll need to select those edges (using the Polygonal Lasso Tool) so that they look sharp, then, lighten the lower part of the selection.




As for curves, no need for selections.




Use the Burn Tool with the same settings as the Dodge Tool to darken the areas left.




Final Image

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and found it useful.





5 books to improve your photography

Improving your Photography 


depends on the experience you have attained through your learning process to be a good photographer your learning.  Lots of tips, tutorials, and websites offer you the needed skills or tips.

Reading books, attending workshops and browsing the Internet are all good things that can help you take better photos. Read the following tips, they will improve the way you create amazing photos and how you see photography.

The Wing provides your Nikon CoolPix camera with more stability and easier access to tripods.
Since digital photography is such a clear extension of the classic art styles, one of the most effective ways to enhance your photography knowledge is to enroll in drawing, painting, and the many other sessions that are presented in most communities. Some courses consist of photography courses. You’ll find many of these courses at art schools, museums, art leagues and other arts-related organizations in your community.


We have gathered a collection of 5 books to improve your photography.













1- The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes

When it comes to photography, it’s all about the light. 
After spending more than thirty years behind the lens—working for National Geographic, Time, Life, and Sports Illustrated—Joe McNally knows about light. He knows how to talk about it, shape it, color it, control it, and direct it. Most importantly, he knows how to create it...using small hot shoe flashes.

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In The Hot Shoe Diaries, Joe brings you behind the scenes to candidly share his lighting solutions for a ton of great images. Using Nikon Speedlights, Joe lets you in on his uncensored thought process—often funny, sometimes serious, always fascinating—to demonstrate how he makes his pictures with these small flashes. Whether he’s photographing a gymnast on the Great Wall, an alligator in a swamp, or a fire truck careening through Times Square, Joe uses these flashes to create great light that makes his pictures sing.



2-  Visual Poetry: A Creative Guide for Making Engaging Digital Photographs

A great photograph has the potential to transcend verbal and written language.
But how do you create these photographs? It’s not the how that’s important, but the who and the what. Who you are as a person has a direct impact on what you capture as a photographer.

Whether you are an amateur or professional, architect or acupuncturist, physician or photographer, this guide provides inspiration, simple techniques, and assignments to boost your creative process and improve your digital images using natural light without additional gear.

Chris Orwig’s insights—to reduce and simplify, participate rather than critique, and capture a story—have made him an immensely popular workshop speaker and faculty member at the prestigious Brooks Institute. His engaging stories presented as lessons follow his classroom approach and highlight what students say is his contagious passion for life.













3- National Geographic Simply Beautiful Photographs

National Geographic Simply Beautiful Photographs
takes readers on a spectacular visual journey through some of the most stunning photographs to be found in National Geographic's famed Image Collection. Award-winning photographer Annie Griffiths culled the images to reflect the many variations on the universal theme of beauty. Chapters are organized around the aesthetic concepts that create beauty in a photograph: Light, Composition, Moment (Gesture and Emotion), Motion, Palette, and Wonder.

Beyond the introduction and brief essays about each featured concept, the text is light. The photographs speak for themselves, enhanced by lyrical quotes from scholars and poets. In the chapter on Light, for example, we read these words of whimsical wisdom from songwriter Leonard Cohen: "Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the lights get in." And then the images flow, of light entering scenes via windows, clouds, and spotlights, from above, alongside, and behind, casting radiance upon young ballerinas and weathered men, into groves of autumn trees and island-dotted seas, revealing everything it touches to be beautiful beyond expectation.
Xtend-a-Mount accessory bracket lets you attach your photosolve Xtend-a-View Pro viewer to your camera without the use of Velcro.
To illuminate the theme of Wonder, Griffiths chose a wish from Andre Bazin: "If I had influence with the good fairy...I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life." This thought is juxtaposed with an exquisite vision in white, a frame filled with the snowy-pure dots and rays of a bird's fan tail. And on it goes, picture after tantalizing picture, alive with wondrous beauty.

When she created National Geographic Simply Beautiful Photographs, Annie Griffiths set two goals: to maximize visual delight, and to create a book unique in the world of publishing--one in which many of the photographs could be purchased as prints. She has succeeded on both counts. Many of these stunning images are available for order, and there can be no doubt as to the visual delight. You must open this book for yourself, and take in its radiant beauty.












4- Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision

Within the Frame is a book about finding and expressing your photographic vision, specifically where people, places, and cultures are concerned. A personal book full of real-world wisdom and incredible images, author David duChemin (of pixelatedimage.com) shows you both the how and the why of finding, chasing, and expressing your vision with a camera to your eye. Vision leads to passion, and passion is a cornerstone of great photography. With it, photographs draw the eye in and create an emotional experience. Without it, a photograph is often not worth—and can’t capture—a viewer’s attention.

Xtend-a-View covers the digital camera's LCD viewer and makes it easier to see your subject - even in bright light.
Both instructional and inspirational, Within the Frame helps you on your photographic journey to make better images of the places and people you love, whether they are around the world or in your own backyard. duChemin covers how to tell stories, and the technology and tools we have at our disposal in order to tell those narratives. Most importantly, he stresses the crucial theme of vision when it comes to photographing people, places, and cultures—and he helps you cultivate and find your own vision, and then fit it within the frame.












5- The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book for Digital Photographers

Since Lightroom first launched, Scott Kelby’s The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers has been the world’s #1 best-selling Lightroom book (it has been translated into a dozen different languages), and in this latest version for Lightroom 4, Scott uses his same award-winning, step-by-step, plain-English style and layout to make learning Lightroom easy and fun.

The OpticZoom 5x zoom lens system allows you to capture ultra-close-up telephoto shots with your digital camera.
Scott doesn’t just show you which sliders do what (every Lightroom book will do that). Instead, by using the following three simple, yet brilliant, techniques that make it just an incredible learning tool, this book shows you how to create your own photography workflow using Lightroom:
Throughout the book, Scott shares his own personal settings and studio-tested techniques. Each year he trains thousands of Lightroom users at his "Lightroom Live!" tour and through that he’s learned what really works, what doesn’t, and he tells you flat out which techniques work best, which to avoid, and why.
The entire book is laid out in a real workflow order with everything step by step, so you can begin using Lightroom like a pro from the start.
What really sets this book apart is the last chapter. This is where Scott dramatically answers his #1 most-asked Lightroom question, which is: "Exactly what order am I supposed to do things in, and where does Photoshop fit in?" You’ll see Scott’s entire start-to-finish Lightroom 4 workflow and learn how to incorporate it into your own workflow.
Scott knows first-hand the challenges today’s digital photographers are facing, and what they want to learn next to make their workflow faster, easier, and more fun. He has incorporated all of that into this major update for Lightroom 4.

It’s the first and only book to bring the whole process together in such a clear, concise, and visual way. Plus, the book includes a special chapter on integrating Adobe Photoshop seamlessly into your workflow, and you’ll also learn some of Scott’s latest Photoshop portrait retouching techniques and special effects, which take this book to a whole new level. There is no faster, more straight-to-the-point, or more fun way to learn Lightroom than with this groundbreaking book.

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Learning Adobe Photoshop

Learning Adobe Photoshop


Have you ever wanted to begin learning Adobe Photoshop? This basic tutorial will take you through the key tools you should know when learning Adobe Photoshop.

Before you can begin learning Adobe Photoshop, you need to obtain the software somewhere. Many websites sell Adobe products including Photoshop/Illustrator/In-Design etc. but they will be quite expensive. If you are a student at a college or university, free software may be available through your IT department. If none of there are options, ask around, there are many people that already have the proper software that can give you a copy. Once you have properly installed any Adobe suite package, you are ready to begin learning Adobe Photoshop.

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When you first open a new drawing in Adobe Photoshop, you will see a series of tabs running across the top of the screen as well as some boxes in the lower left hand corner. Knowing what tools are in each tab should be the first thing you begin to explore. Like most programs, Adobe Photoshop has the tabs at the top begin with the basic functions on the left and you get deeper into the program as you move down the line. You should take some time to familiarize yourself with each tab, especially the "edit" and "image" tabs. This will be a key to learning Adobe Photoshop quickly.

The next important aspect to learning Adobe Photoshop is understanding "layers". The previous step mentioned boxes in the lower right corner of your screen. One of these boxes is called "layers". If you do not see the layers box, you can also access it through the top menus. If anyone wants to be successful using Adobe Photoshop, you must understand and use layers frequently. Using the layers is basically a way to help you keep your file organized. Each image or effect that you create on the page can be put on its on "layer" that you can modify and control individually.


Now that you know what a layer is, it is important to play around with the layers menu to see what exactly you can accomplish. You will be surprised in what you can learn. The last menu that you need to familiarize yourself with before diving into the program is the left toolbar.
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Next on the list is the left toolbar in Adobe Photoshop. The left toolbar will be your most popular toolbar by far. On this icon you will find any kind of selection tool you need, painting tools, cropping tools, zoom tools, and many more. This should be the first place you look when you don't know how to do something in Adobe Photoshop. The left toolbar is the foundation for the entire program so it is essential that you are familiar with every tool there because it is a certainty that you will use it.

With that in mind, learning everything in Adobe Photoshop is quite an intimidating task but if you can understand the basic toolbars and actions in the program, you will catch on quickly. The best way to attack the program is to dive in head first. You will discover tools you don't even know exist as you make your way through the program. Just remember, be patient when learning Adobe Photoshop, the more time you put in, the more you will get back.
InfiniteSkills "Learning Adobe Photoshop CC Training Video (via http://kindle-2-ereader.com)
Learn Photoshop CC At Your Own Pace (PRWEB) May 25, 2013 Software training firm InfiniteSkills Inc. last week introduced its “Learning Adobe Photoshop CC Tutorial,” a course designed to teach fundamental photo editing skills using Adobe’s flagship application. The latest release of Adobe Photoshop…

Create a Magazine Mockup Using InDesign and Photoshop


How to Create a Magazine Mockup?

Creating a magazine mockup is usually done by developers who often use various applications to get the job done. What is wonderful about Adobe products is that you can quickly swap between them to accomplish different projects. It is easy to design a magazine layout using Adobe InDesign. We will show you how to develop a practical and reusable magazine mockup of that design in Photoshop that you can offer to your customers.


Adobe InDesign, a part of the Creative Suite product line, is a widely-used software program for page composition, design and production. Graphic artists and digital publishers choose InDesign when they want creative control in manipulating page elements, mainly text and images, in single or multipage documents.


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Create a Magazine Mockup Using InDesign and Photoshop (via hot press news)
Designers often use several apps to create their work.What is great about Adobe products is that you can easily switch between them to perform various tasks. In this tutorial, we will show you how to design a magazine layout using Adobe InDesign.  We will then show you how to create a realistic and…

Understanding Image Pixels In Photoshop

Understanding Image Pixels In Photoshop




Before we can understand digital photography-related Photoshop topics like image resolution and bit depth, and before we start editing and printing our digital photos, we need to grab our virtual microscopes and magnifying glasses and examine the tiny, often times completely overlooked world of digital image pixels.
The word "pixel" is really a short form of two words, "picture element". It’s an appropriate name, since pixels are in fact the elements which make up our digital pictures.

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Pixels are the building blocks of any digital photo or image, sort of like how those fancy Lego toys they sell at your local Toys R Us are really nothing more than a collection of small, individual Lego pieces, or how pieces of a jigsaw puzzle come together to form a complete picture, yet if you’re standing close enough to the puzzle, you can still see the individual pieces. Pixels make up your digital photos and images in much the same way.

When you look at a digital photograph on your computer screen, even though it looks like a normal photo and you can clearly make out the people and/or objects in the photo, what you’re really seeing is nothing more than a massive collection of colored squares, squares that are normally too small for your eyes to see them individually, yet when placed side-by-side and above and below each other, they form a complete image, which is the photograph you’re looking at on your screen. What you see as a photo you took using your digital camera of your family or a recent trip, a sporting event or whatever the case may be, is really nothing more than a whole bunch of tiny colored squares.


Above is a photo I took with my digital camera while walking through the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls, Canada. It looks like, well, a photo of a butterfly, right? But is it really a photo of a butterfly? Take a look at the screenshot below and tell me if it looks like a butterfly to you.


Doesn’t much look like a butterfly anymore, does it? Yet what you’re seeing in the image above is the exact same photo of the butterfly, or at least a small portion of it. The difference is, now we’ve zoomed in on it at 1600% magnification. It’s almost as if we’re standing so close to a jigsaw puzzle that our nose is touching it. Here’s what Photoshop’s Navigator Palette is showing us. See that tiny little red rectangle in the center of the image (I’ve circled it to make it easier to see)? That’s the section of the photo we’re looking at in the document window above:


The Navigator Palette shows us that we are in fact looking at the photo of the butterfly, and what we’re actually looking at is the butterfly’s eye zoomed in at 1600% magnification. At this level of magnification, the image doesn’t look anything like a butterfly, and is quite obviously nothing more than a collection of colored squares. These squares are the pixels, and it’s these pixels that Photoshop sees and cares about. Photoshop doesn’t care what the subject of the photo is supposed to be. It doesn’t know what your family looks like, what your dog looks like, what the lake near your cottage looks like, or even what this butterfly looks like. All Photoshop knows is pixels.


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You may have noticed in the zoomed-in screenshot above that each individual pixel contains only one color. Some pixels may appear to contain different shades of that one color near their edges, depending on the color of the pixel next to it, but that’s just your eyes playing tricks on you. Seriously, it’s an illusion, yet it’s an illusion caused by a whole other topic on color which we won’t get into here. All we need to understand for now is that each individual pixel uses exactly one color, and it’s the color of the pixels that we’re changing whenever we edit our digital photographs in Photoshop. Also, it’s the variations in color and brightness values of the individual pixels which gives us what we see as image detail in our photos. We’ll look more at these topics as we go along. I just wanted to give you a sense of how incredibly important these image pixels are, especially since we’re going to be changing their appearance, for better or for worse, when working on our images in Photoshop.
To summarize then, pixels, short for "picture elements", are tiny colored squares which all digital photos and images are made up of, whether they’re from your digital camera or your scanner. In the next section, we’ll take things a step further and look at image resolution.

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What is a pixel?

What is a pixel?

Short for Picture Element, a pixel is a single point in a graphic image. Graphics monitors display pictures by dividing the display screen into thousands (or millions) of pixels, arranged in rows and columns. The pixels are so close together that they appear connected.
The number of bits used to represent each pixel determines how many colors or shades of gray can be displayed. For example, in 8-bit color mode, the color monitor uses 8 bits for each pixel, making it possible to display 2 to the 8th power (256) different colors or shades of gray.
On color monitors, each pixel is actually composed of three dots -- a red, a blue, and a green one. Ideally, the three dots should all converge at the same point, but all monitors have some convergence error that can make color pixels appear fuzzy.

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The quality of a display system largely depends on its resolution, how many pixels it can display, and how many bits are used to represent each pixel. VGA systems display 640 by 480, or about 300,000 pixels. In contrast, SVGA systems display 800 by 600, or 480,000 pixels. True Color systems use 24 bits per pixel, allowing them to display more than 16 million different colors.