10e20 Blog

Some things are easier to do than others when manipulating type. Here is a quick tutorial on how to transform and distort your type in an easily scalable way with a vector mask.

This works on the same premise as distorting or transforming a basic shape. When you convert a text layer to a shape a vector mask is applied to it and ables you to make many transform functions. Very quick, very easy, very effective.

Step 1. Create a new layer with your text on it. Experiment with various widths and styles. For exaggerated distortions I find that a thick or Bold Condensed type form works best.

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Step 2. With the type layer selected go to Layer/Type/Convert to Shape.

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More text style tips! Text styles are a great way to get away from the same solid color on a background and add some subtle ‘pizazz’ to the type.

For this tutorial we will need a photograph or an illustration to go behind the text that we will be applying the style to.

Step 1. Place your photo on the first layer and create a new layer for the text. Use a large font and fill it with black.

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Step 2. With the text layer selected apply a new Layer Style of Inner Glow to it. Select black as the color for this and set the Blend Mode to Multiply.

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Text styles are always a great way to get away from the same solid color on a background and add some flair to the type.

Text style is used to further express the mode of a piece. Chrome could be considered mechanical or cool. This technique can be applied to text, an object or shape to add a cool chrome effect.

Step 1. On a new document created a letter in white on a darker background with a large point size. I am using 287 points and the font is Myriad Pro.

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Step 2. Go to Layer/Rasterize/Type.

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Step 3. Hold down Control and click on the Text Layer. This will select the outline shape of the letter.

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Nondestructively adjusting the exposure in certain areas of your image can be a very beneficial technique to use.

You create a 50% gray layer with a blending mode like Soft Light. Then with the Brush tool on a lower Opacity, paint in the Burns and Dodge with Grays and Blacks.

Step 1. Create a new layer on your document and go to Edit/Fill. Use a setting of %50 Gray.

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Step 2. Set the Layer Mode to Soft Light.

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Step 3. Select a large Brush and lower the Opacity to about %20. With Black selected as your Foreground color begin to paint in your Burning, the areas you would like darker.

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Step 4. Select White as your Foreground color and paint in the area you would like Dodged in your image, this will lighten up the areas.

Looking for that 15 minutes of fame? Well this tutorial won’t show you that, but it will give you a quick way to style your photos into a piece of Pop art.

1. Convert your photo to black and white or monochrome if it is not already. An easy way to do this is by opening the Hue and Saturation palette and sliding the saturation all the way to the left. Rename the layer ‘main photo’.

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2. Create a New Adjustment Layer and make it for Threshold. Use the options box to manipulate the image to how you like it, but try and leave some detail.

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3. Set the Opacity of the Threshold Layer to %50 and duplicate the main photo layer. Select the Burn Tool brush and set it to Midtones. Paint over ares that may need more detail, maybe the hair or face. Set the Threshold Layer’s Opacity back to %100.

A great way to convert photographs into colorful variations is to use the color balance adjustment to tone the shadows and highlights of your image into two different colors.

The Tone Effect technique can give your images a Pop art look or an aged mono/duo toned looked. Great way to further stylize a photograph and create something new and add some creative flair.

Step 1. Open your photo and adjust the Levels and or Curves. Make the Shadows the darkest areas and the highlights the whitest.

Step 2. Open your photo and convert it into a grayscale or black and white image. Go to Image/Adjustment/Hue Saturation and slide the saturation slider all the way down to the left. Or you can go to Image/Mode/Grayscale then you will have to convert it back into RGB, it will retain the new color mode of the grayscale though but it can now be colorized.

Do you want to sharpen your creative picture taking instincts? Do you want to combine new ideas with your current projects and techniques? These techniques will be better executed with digital cameras and meant as some direction or guidelines to taking ‘better‘ pictures. You are your cameras best viewfinder!

Why digital as opposed to film you say? You don’t have to buy tons of film if you are learning new ideas and trying different things and also you see the results right away.

That being said some of these photos were taken with Polaroid film. Polaroid has such an expressiveness to the colors and creates unique one of a kind images every time. The film is expensive but worth it. Once you get some basics down, experiment with film.

The arts are called ‘creative‘ fields because there are no predetermined correct answers to problems, infinite variations in interpretations and applications are possible. But there are some things that can help you out…

Design is concerned with seeking visual solutions to problems, and planning how to correctly arrange elements. An artist has the same search for the best way to express an idea. Depending on the field a designer or an artist will have various elements that need designing. They may be a set for a play, a clock, traffic signage, website graphics, dance choreography, or even painted symbols. But all of them need follow some design principles as well as basic fundamentals.

Photoshop has some great filters in its arsenal, but the trick is usually tweaking or working with them in such a way as to make it seem less like a canned filter that was just applied with the default settings.

Graphic interpretations of photographs can be a cool solution to a plain photograph that you want or need to spice up for presentation or inclusion into a larger graphic.

In this tutorial I will go over 2 effects that use a combination of a few filters to create a unique look.

I will use these 2 photos.

The vectorized looking, plastic feel

Step 1. Open your photograph and adjust the Curves and Contrast. Give the photo a good range of dark and whites. Make the shadows dark.

Step 2. Go to Filter/Blur/Smart Blur. Set the Radius and Threshold to %100 and the Quality High and the Mode Normal.

Often with digital photographs taken without the use of additional light sources we get a flat light. This works fine most of the time, but sometimes we would like to dramatically change the focus or impact of an element in the image.

This technique can be useful for product photography, portraits, and nature shots.

This tutorial will require some understanding if Masks, Adjustment Layers, and Layer Blend Modes.

Step1 . Set up the document and duplicate the Background layer. On the copy layer make any adjustments to the clarity, levels, and color that you need.

Step 2. Convert that copy layer into a B&W version. Go to Image/Adjustments/Hue Saturation and slide the Saturation all the way down. Be sure that you retain the blacks in the shadows and the whites in the highlights.