Shadow Highlight Adjustment layer
Shadow Highlight is a great adjustment for bringing back some of the areas that have become plugged up in our photos. The good thing about this adjustment is that we don’t lose any of the detail in the midtones. Perhaps your disappointed because its still not an adjustment layer. Don’t worry because if has that exact functionality with a little workaround. Make your layer a smear object and now apply Shadow Highlight as a Smart Filter. You now have a re-editable Shadow Highlight. This also works for the Variations Adjustment

Hide and seek
Have you gotten used to the new interface yet? Here’s a tip that will make you love it. As you probably already know, pressing the Tab key will hide all the palettes. Ok you knew that, so it’s not the tip, here’s the tip. If you roll your mouse to the left or right edge of the screen, the palettes will pop out for your use. Make your selection and then roll back to your image and the palettes will disappear again.

Auto Collapse
Here’s another tip to help you love the new interface. Have you noticed that when your in icon mode (everything is minimized) and you expand a palette to choose it’s option, it stays open and now you have to make an extra step to close it? Right click anywhere in the palettes and choose Auto Collapse Icon Palettes. Now when you choose an option and then click in your document, the palette will automatically collapse closed again.

B&W drag to change color
The best way to convert a color photo to Black and White is to use the new Black and White Adjustment. While using this adjustment, you don’t need to guess which colors belong to which tones. Drag your mouse over the image and the underlying tone will adjust.

Open JPG in RAW
I’m sure that all the cool new options in Camera Raw haven’t gone unnoticed to you. Don’t you wish that these options were available to all images? Good news, they are. You can now open Jpg and Tiff formats inside Camera Raw and make use of the tools. Right Click on the Image in Bridge and choose: Open In Camera Raw. The jpg or tiff is now open in Camera Raw ready for all the cool tools. Remember though, if you want to take full advantage of the Raw tools, you should shoot in Raw on your camera.

This is a quite simple tutorial to create a very nice plastic feel to your texts and shapes. Start a new document, and use your type tool to create your text. Make it big and bold, and color #B7E1F7.

Note: The settings I use in this tutorial is for my text size 350px with font Georgia. If you are using a different font, at different size, you may need to adjust some settings to get it look right.

Now just apply the following layer style settings to the text.
Layer » Layer Style – >Bevel and Emboss
Layer » Layer Style – >Inner Glow
Layer » Layer Style – >Inner Shadow
Layer » Layer Style – >Drop Shadow
Now CTRL+Click on the text layer to make a selection, then click on the Add adjustment layer from the bottom of the layers pallete, and select levels and adjust the sliders.

This technique can be applied to shapes and objects too, not just text, so experiment and come up with something cool.

Step 1
Start with a new image, 250×250 pixels. Select a dark gray as the foreground color. Create a new layer, and with the Pen or Paintbrush tool, draw a wire shaped line on it, 15 pixels thick.

Gradual curves look nice. This may take a few tries to get right.

Name the layer Wire.

Step 2
Make a copy of Wire, by dragging it onto the New Layer button. Double click on the new layer, and rename it Cut Wire.

Hide the original layer Wire, by clicking on it’s eye icon in the Layers window. We’ll use that layer later on.

Now, grab the Eraser tool, set the brush size to about 5 pixels, and cut the line up.

Step 3
Hold down Ctrl, and click on the hidden Wire layer in the Layers window.

This will create a selection out of the layer Wire’s transparency

Next, go to the Channels window, and click the Save selection as channel button .

Select the new Channel in the Channels window, then double click on it and rename it Wire Bevel.

Step 4
Gaussian Blur the selection by 9 pixels, then by 6 pixels, then by 3 pixels, and finally 1 pixel.

AutoLevels Ctrl+Shift+L, the selection.

Then, go back to the Layers window, hold down Ctrl and click on the Cut Wire layer to select it’s transparency. Return to the Channels window, click on Wire Bevel, press D to reset colors, invert selection Ctrl+Shift+I, and finally clear the selection. Del

Deselect. Ctrl+D

Step 5
Go back to the Layers window, and select the Cut Wire layer.

Filter > Render > Lighting Effects…

Click on the image to the left to enlarge.

Create a white Directional light, and aim it down, from the top. Then, create a blue directional light, shining up, from the bottom.

Set the Properties to:
Gloss: 100 (Shiny)
Material: -100 (Plastic)
Exposure: 39
Ambience: -21

Set the Texture Channel onto Wire Bevel, and the height to 15.

Now, tweak the positioning and direction of the lights to achieve the desired effect.

Step 6
Now, click on the hidden Wire layer to expose it. Click on it again holding down Ctrl, to create the selection.

To make the line 1 pixel thinner, invert the selection Ctrl+Shift+I, go Select > Modify > Expand… 1 pixel, and clear the selection Del, and Deselect Ctrl+D.

Filter > Render > Lighting Effects…

And set the Texture Channel to Wire Transparency.

Hit OK, add a dropshadow, and you’re finished!

Learn how to make simple 3d Bevel text like the one for the logo for Mac OS X.

This is one of the easier tutorial, simply because it really simple. Anyone can do this tutorial! OK, you are going to work with extra large text, text at size 400. As I am only doing one letter my canvas will be 500 x 500 but makes yours big enough to fit your type in at 400 pts. OK, now with your new image, select your type tool and type a huge letter like shown in the picture opposite.

This is an advanced tutorial, illustrating a simple method of giving the illusion of a 3d reflection to a particular form, using Photoshop’s Glass filter. It should work in Photoshop versions 5 and later. For the demonstration I will use Photoshop CS4 Extended.

This method can be used in conjunction with lighting effects for slippery smooth results.
Step 1
a) Create an image, 800×800 pixels. For reference purposes, save this image (Ctrl+S) as glass.psd.
b) Use the type tool, or create an original form, filling most of the image, preferably using a typeface with thick smooth edges.
This example is using Goudy Old Style, Extra Bold. For reference, let this layer be known as the ‘Type’ layer.
c) Now holding down Ctrl, click on the Type layer in the Layer Window to select the it’s transparency.

Step 2
a) In the Channels Window, press the ‘Save selection as channel’ button to create a channel of the selection.
b) Now, click on the new channel this created, and with the selection still in tact, Gaussian Blur it accordingly.

Might I suggest, a series of blurs in succession, so that the edges falloff very smoothly.

Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur… 9 pixels
Then blur 6 pixels.
Then blur 6 pixels.
Then again, 3 pixels.
Then again, 3 pixels.
Then finally, only 1 pixel.

The height map you create here is key to the goodness of the final effect.
Tip:
If you have My Actions loaded, this blurring process can be done quickly and easily by pressing: F8 (blur 9px), F7 (blur 6px), F6 (blur 3px), F5 (blur 1px)
c) Once you deem your blurration fit for submission, press Ctrl+A to select the entire channel, then copy it to the clipboard Ctrl+C.
d) Create a new image (Ctrl+N), of the same size (800×800), and paste (Ctrl+V) the blurred channel into it. Now, save this image as a glass_bump.psd into the same folder you are working from. You may now close it if you wish.
Step 3
a) Download this photo by right clicking on the link then selecting ‘Save target as…’. Open the image in photoshop.
Note: This can also be done by clicking on the link, so that the full image loads in your web browser, then drag the photo off the browser into Photoshop.

b)Once the image is in Photoshop, Select All (Ctrl+A), copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl+C), then go to the original image glass.psd and paste it (Ctrl+V) onto a new layer.

This will be the image which the glass refracts. Let it be known as the ‘Photo’ layer.

Tip:
If you use your own photo instead of this one, such as pictures of water which look cool and refreshing, make sure that it is exactly the same size as the glass.psd, or else make sure that the edges of the Photo layer go beyond he edges of the image. Also, make sure you select the whole image (not layer) (Ctrl+A) before running the Glass filter, or else there will problems with the placement of the glass refraction. You will see.

Step 4
a) With the Photo layer selected, select all (Ctrl+A), then go in the menu:

Filter > Distort > Glass…

b) From the texture dropdown, choose Load Texture…

Then select the bump map you saved earlier, glass_bump.psd, and press OK.

These sliders are self-explanatory, though for this demonstration I will use:

Distortion: 20
Smoothness: 8

The Invert option may also produce a desired effect.

When you’re done here, press OK to apply the filter.

Note: Rendering the glass filter a second or third time on the same layer (Ctrl+F) may also produce desirable effects.

The following steps are entirely optional, and should be experimented with.

Step 5
To fit the glass refraction inside the original form, hold down Alt, then move your mouse between the Type layer and the Photo layer, until a little icon with two intersecting circles replaces the cursor, then click.

This will use the Type layer transparency as a mask for the refracted Photo layer.

To disable this, click between the layers again holding down Alt.

Step 6
a) Holding down Ctrl click the Type layer to select it’s transparency. Click on the Photo layer, then create a new layer above it.

Fill the new layer with a dark color, such as black, by pressing X (to select Black as foreground color), and then Alt+Backspace (to fill). Then deselect (Ctrl+D).

Rename this layer ‘Highlight’, or something to this extent.

Set the blending mode for this layer to Overlay.

b) With the Highlight layer still selected, go in the menu:

Filter > Render > Lighting Effects…

Set your texture channel to the bump map created earlier (possibly Alpha 1), then setup some nice lights, according to the Lighting Effects tutorial.

Channel height set to 100 ‘Mountainous’, may or may not look hoopy.

When this is done, perhaps even change the blending mode to Color Dodge, or Screen… whatever appears the most groovy to your pulsating eyeballs.

In addition to the Photo layer, try refracting a layer of black and white scan lines to produce highly detailed moire patterns. This tutorial can also be used to create chrome looking items.

In this Photoshop tutorial I am going to show you how to achieve a look of a design or text that has been engraved or chiseled into stone or any other material that you would like. It’s actually a quite easy effect to achieve.

To start off with you are going to need two things. You will need the material that you would like to engrave and you will need the design that you want to engrave, this design can easily be text instead of a design. I will be using the following images.

Open up the material you chose in Photoshop, in my case the green marble pictured above. Now go to your channels palette and add your design or text into a new channel. If you are using a design you have already created, simply open up your design, copy it, then paste it into a new channel. If you have not made a design, create a new channel and simple make your design directly in the newly created channel. If you are working with text simply write your text in the newly created channel. Your channels palette should now look something like this.

Now we are going to be working with Adjustment Layers and we need to make a layer mask with the design or text that we put in our newly created channel. To do this load the newly created channel as a selection by holding down CTRL and clicking the newly created channel. Now go back to your layers palette the “Create new fill or adjustment layer” button. This will pop-up a list, from the list choose levels as the type. In the levels dialog box that pops up move the white output levels slider inward to darken the image. Doing so here will darken just the part that we are going to engrave without increasing the contrast in the rest of the image.

The rest of the work that we will be doing will take place on the adjustment layer that we just created so make sure you are working on it. Lets get started with what will have the biggest effect on the image, an inner shadow. Open up your Layers Styles (Layer/Layer Style/Inner Shadow), the settings here are purely by taste. Use your mouse cursor to drag around the shadow until you achieve a look that you like. Don’t hit ok when you are done though, we aren’t done with the layer styles quite yet.

Now lets create a nice beveled edge. Again, these settings are kind of to taste. I chose an Outer Bevel. I chose to really pump up the intensity for both the highlights and the shadow, moving them all the way up to 100%, I also changed their blending mode as well.

To enhance the carving lets enhance the shadow. I used the inner glow layer style to do this. Make your inner shadow color black and change the color mode to Color Burn. Also lower the opacity and increase the size.

To enhance the shadow a bit more I added a drop shadow as well. This will help to help to define the shading. I put the drop shadow in overlay mode, used a fairly good sized “Size” setting and made the distance zero.

To help with the illusion of depth we can shift the image in the engraved out areas. To do this, select the background image and then CTRL click the adjustment layer to load it’s selection and then go to your offset filter (Filters/Other/Offset). You just want to shift this a bit so that the patterns don’t match up so use a small value, I used 7 for both the horizontal and the vertical.

The aqua button is one of the nicest looking buttons that you can make in Photoshop and in this tutorial I will show you how to make one. They are fairly easy to make there are just quite a few steps. The end result is worth it though. Let’s get started shall well.

First off lets open up a new image, lets just say 500X250 pixels but the size isn’t overly important. I do find it easier to work bigger than needed and then shrinking down the button once you are done. Create a new layer above your background layer and fill up the new layer with a background pattern of some sort, I used a grid pattern. Finally set the opacity of the pattern layer to 15%. Your image should now look like this.

Next, create a new channel. In this new channel create a pill shaped button. I do this by creating two circles and then a rectangle between the two circles to create the pill shaped button. Make the button fairly large spanning the majority of the image horizontally.

Now create a selection from your newly created channel and go back to your layers palette. Once you are back in the layers palette create a new layer and fill in your newly created pill shaped selection with a nice blue color. I used R:70 G:122 B:179 / Hex: 467ab3. Your image should now look like this.

Now we are going to be doing some work with Layer Styles. Still working with the newly created blue pill shaped layer open up your layer styles and choose Inner Shadow (Layer/Layer Style/Inner Shadow). I used the settings below (click for bigger).

After you are done with the Inner Shadow, don’t click OK, we aren’t done with the Layer Styles yet.

After applying the inner shadow choose the Bevel and Emboss layer style and apply the settings below. Once again, click for bigger

Still not done with the layer styles. This time choose satin. I used the settings below. Again, click for bigger.

Alright, last layer style. This time choose Gradient Overlay and use the settings shown below.

OK, still working on the blue pill layer load the selection of the layer and then contract it (Select/Modify/Contract). Contract by 10 pixels and then do another contraction of 10. Once the selection has been contracted twice, feather the selection (Select/Feather) with a value of 10. Your image should now look like this.

Now Alt Click the new layer button which will pop up a window. We are going to create a new Color Dodge layer with “Color-Dodge-Neutral color (black)” checked (see the picture on the right for reference). Fill this newly created layer with white using the paint bucket.

Double click the newly created layer to bring up the blending options screen and apply the following settings.

Still working with the Color Dodge layer, apply a Gaussian Blur, I used a value of 18. Your image should now be looking like this.

Load the selection from the blue pill layer and then click then create a new layer mask by pressing the button at the bottom of the Layers palette. Re-select the Blue Pill layers selection by Ctrl clicking the layer. Now repeat what we did in step nine, Contract the selection by 10 twice and then feather it by 10. Now fill the selection with the following gray color R:166 G:166 B:166 / Hex: A6A6A6. Then apply a Gaussian blur to the layer mask using a value of 20. Your image should now look like this.

Lets add some highlights. Grab your rectangle marquee selection tool and create a rectangle as shown in the picture below.

Using the rectangle selection you just made go to your channels palette and save the selection as a new channel. Select this newly created channel and lets skew it. Choose the Skew tool (Edit/Transform/Skew) and while holding down Ctrl+Shift+Alt (this will keep things symmetrical) skew the rectangle so that it looks like the image below.

Remove your selection and apply a gaussian blur to your skewed rectangle. I used a value of 10.

Still working in the channels palette open up your Levels Adjustment tool (Image/Adjustments/Levels) and set the input levels values to 120, 1, 132. This will define your blurred shape. Press OK and then load the selection from your newly created shape.

With the selection still active go back to your layers palette and create a new layer on top of all the existing layers. Reset your colors to the default black and white (press D) and choose your Gradient Tool. Make a linear gradient from the bottom of the selection to the top.

Set this newly created layers mode to Screen and set the opacity to 60%

If you’d like, add some text with a drop shadow and that is all. Looks pretty nice huh?

Creating plastic text is actually quite easy and makes for a great effect. The end result is one of the finest effects for text in my opinion and the ideas presented in this tutorial can be used on all sorts of thing like buttons and interfaces. Lets get started. For this effect to work best it is best to work large so create a new document around 900 X 900 pixels with a white background. Choose a nice font, in this tutorial I am using Monotype Corsiva and choose a nice blue color, I am using RGB 14,98,175. Make sure your letter fills up the majority of your canvas. Remember, bigger is better while creating the effect, you can shrink the letter down when we are done. If you have followed the instructions your canvas should now look like this.

Now select the text layers transparency by pressing and holding down the ctrl button and clicking the layers icon. Now create a new layer, name this layer white, and contract the selection (Select/Modify/Contract) by 15 pixels.

Now choose the white color in your color picker and fill the selection with white. Make sure you are working on the new layer you created and named white in the last step and not on the text layer. Now remove the selection (Ctrl+D) and now we need to blur the white color. Use gaussian blur (Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur) once at 16 pixels, then again at 8 and then one more at 4. Your image should now look like this.

Now the next step will depend on what version of Photoshop you are using. If you are using Photoshop 6 or higher change the layers blending mode to Color Dodge. Once color dodge is selected double click the layer to open the Layer Style menu and deselect the Red Channel under advanced blending.

If you are using an older version of Photoshop, 5.5 or lower, set the layers opacity to 50% and change the blending mode to Color Dodge.

Now your image should look something like this.

Now we need to add some highlights. To do this we are going to use the Lighting Effect but first we need to get the image ready. Choose the letters transparency again by pressing and holding down the ctrl button and clicking layer with your letter in it. With the letter layers transparency selected go to your channels window and create a new channel from the active selection by pressing the “Save Selection as channel” button. This will create a new channel. Select this new channel and with the selection still active do a series of Gaussian blurs. Do the first guassian blur at 16, then one at 8, then 4 and finally 2. Then invert your selection (Select/Inverse) and press delete. Now remove your selection (ctrl+D). Your new channel should now look like this.

Go back to your layers window and once again choose the letter layers transparency. Now create a new layer and drag this layer up above the layer you named White. Name this new layer Highlights. Working in the newly created Highlights layer, fill the selection with black, set the layers blending mode to screen and make sure that you select preserve transparency. Your layers window should now look like this.

Still working with the Highlights layer lets break out the Lighting Effects filter (Filter/Render/Lighting Effect). Things to make sure you do and watch for with the lighting filter because you may need to fiddle with the settings to make it look right. Make sure that you change the texture channel to Alpha 1 which is the channel that you made earlier. Make sure you are using a directional light using a value of around 32, you want to make sure the entire letter is lit but you really want the edges to be highlighted.

Once you are done with the lighting effects filter give the layer a slight guassian blur to smooth it out, a value of 2 to 4 should be good enough, I used 4. Your image should now look like this.

We are just about done now, looking pretty good huh? Now for this last step you can play a bit and fiddle until you like the end result the best. We are going use the Curve tool (Image/Adjust/Curves). Just play around with the curve until you get a look that you like. Your end result should now look something like this.

We are pretty much done now. You can spice it up by adding a drop shadow though. Make a drop shadow by going to Layer/Layer Style/Drop Shadow. Changing the color of the drop shadow to a blue tone so that it gives the effect of light passing through the plastic.

In this Photoshop tutorial I will show you how to make text that overlaps itself. It is a very simple tutorial but gives a great effect. This tutorial can be used on any sort of text that you make, you don’t have to use the same style font that I use or have the letters look the same as mine, but I will also show you some cool things you can do with layer styles to make some cool looking letters. I will point out where the important steps are to achieve the overlapping effect.

Lets begin. Fire up Photoshop and open up a new document, doesn’t really matter on the size, but you want it big enough so you can really see what is going on. I tend to work big, you can always shrink the text down when you are done. If you want to follow along exactly like me, start with your canvas 800X450. Pick a background color, this isn’t at all important and can be changed at any time. I am going to use a bright green color which is R:12 G:255 B:0 during the tutorial.

Now in order to make this effect work, each of your letters has to be on a separate layer. This kinda makes everything a pain in the butt, but it is the only way to do it. Break out the text tool (keyboard shortcut is “T”) and then choose your font, I like to use a playful font for this effect, I am going to use a font called “Frosty”. Choose the color that you want to use for the font, I am going to use yellow (R:255 G:255 B:0). With a font size of 140. Now just type the first letter of the word you want to spell out. I am going to spell out overlap so I am made an “O”.

Now I am going to apply some layer styles, the import one being Stroke. The stroked edge is what makes the effect really visible. Working on the text layer, go to Layer/Layer Style/Stroke. In the window that pops up choose your colors and the width of the stroke. In my example I am using these settings; Size: 4, Position: Outside, Blend: Normal, Opacity: 100% and I am using Blue (R:0 G:0 B:255) for the color. I also applied an inner shadow and bevel and emboss layer effect to my text just to make it look a little cooler.

Now just spell out the rest of your word make sure to put each new letter on its own layer, this is very important. Don’t forget that you can copy and paste your layer styles to each new letter which will save you lots of time. To do this type your second letter, making sure it is on its own layer, and use the same color that you did for the first letter. Don’t worry about placement of the letters yet either. Once you have your new letter go to your layers palette and right click the first letter that you made and from the pop-up menu choose “Copy Layer Style”. Now go to the new layer that was created when you made your second letter and right click it and choose “Paste Layer Style” and all the effects you used on your first letter will be applied to your second letter. Follow these steps until you have all of the letters that make up your word, again make sure that each letter is on its own layer.

OK, now you should have all your letters, each on there own layer, with the same layer styles applied to each. Now it is just about moving the letters around so that they overlap each other and then changing up the layer order. Get your move tool, keyboard shortcut “V”, and choose one of your letters. I like to work left to right, so I am going to choose the “V”. Move it over so that it just partially covers the first letter, the “O” for me. Then continue working your way through your letters until you have something that looks pretty good. We will improve the effect in the next step.

With the way it is now, it looks pretty good but we can take it a step further. Due to the way layers work, each letter as you go in the word is on top of the one that it follow. So the first letter is on the bottom and the last one is on the top. In Photoshop you can drag layers up and down changing their order. For instance in the above picture the “V” is over the “O” but if I take the “O” layer and drag it above the “V” layer the “O” will now be on top of the V. So play around by dragging the letters so that they sit in above or below the letters next to them. And since the layers are on separate layers you can also move them using the move tool. Thats it, pretty simple huh? The finished product is on the right. I hope you have enjoyed this Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended tutorial

This Photoshop tutorial is pretty basic but you can achieve some very cool effects with this simple technique. You can apply this tutorial on text or on objects within in your picture. I have included some variations on the technique at the end of the tutorial.

First off open up the object that you want reflected. I am going to use some text for this example. Your text or object must be in a layer by itself, it cannot contain a background. So essentially in the begining, have a all white background layer and your text/object layer on top of that.

Duplicate the text layer so that you have two of them. To duplicate an the contents of a layer drag the layer to the new layer icon in the layers palette. Or right click the layer that contains the text and choose duplicate layer. You will now have three layers, your white background layer, your text layer and a copy of the text layer.

Working on the top layer, add a drop shadow layer effect. To add a drop shadow go to Layer/Layer Style/Drop Shadow or double click the layer that you want to add a drop shadow to which will open your layer style option menu. Select drop shadow on the left and make sure its check box is checked. Play with the settings until you have a nice soft shadow that is underneath your text.

Now working with the lower text layer, vertically flip the layer. You can do this by going to Edit/Transform/Flip Vertical. Choose your move tool (the keyboard short is “V”) and move your newly flipped layer so that it sits under your top layer as shown in the picture below.

Now adjust the opacity of the lower layer to soften it up a bit, a value of around 30% tends to work great.

That pretty much covers the basics of it, pretty cool huh? I love how simple it is to achieve such cool results in Photoshop. You can do much more with reflections as well. Continue the tutorial to see some variations utilizing the technique discussed in this tutorial.

By changing the perspective on the reflection layer (Edit/Transform/Perspecitve) you can get an effect like this.

By adding the ripple filter (Filters/Distort/Ripple) to the reflection layer you can make it appear as if the image is being reflected on water.

By adding a gradient overlay (Layer/Layer style/Gradient Overlay) to the reflected layer you can achieve something like this.

By doing a Guassian Blur (Filter/Blur/Guassian Blur) you can get an effect like this.

As you can see, the possiblities with this simple technique are limitless. Explore and play around with Photoshop CS4 Extended and see what you can come up with.