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Photo Fun | Tip No. 4: Snow Globe Technique

guests, layouts, Photo Fun, tutorials 7 Responses »

Dec 192011

Hi there everybody! It’s Amy here with another Photo Fun technique–just in time for those holiday pages! In the tutorial below I’m going to show you how you can create a beautiful digital snow globe effect on your holiday pages to showcase your photos in–like I’ve done in my page below, “It’s What Christmas Is All About”.

In this layout I’ve used Danielle’s Kiwi Christmas Quick Page No. 2 and added this fun technique to each of the circular photos on my layout–making for a quick yet fun page for the holidays!

To encapsulate your memories inside of their very own digital snow globe use the following steps:

First open a document in Photoshop and create a circular clipping mask (that is relative to the size you want your finished snow globe photo to be) with your Eliptical Shape Tool and rastersize/simplify the layer.

Then select your Eraser Tool and choose a large soft brush (I’ve used a soft 80px brush at 100% opacity) and run the edge of your eraser along the OUTSIDE edge of your clipping mask so that it softens up the hard edge of the mask and gives it a nice soft glow around the edge.

Now take that same large soft brush and change the opacity to 10% and blend the inside of your clipping mask using a spiral motion as you work your way into the center of your circle.

Now clip your photo to your clipping mask–if you are happy with the effect then you can move onto the next step

If not then you can try adjusting the opacity and/or fill of your clipping masks layer to add or take away from the frosty look of your of photo’s snow globe.

You could also try adding a fill layer of white (clipped over top of your photo) paired with your Dissolve blending mode for a fun snowy effect. Just use your opacity and fill sliders to make the effect more subtle.

Now with your photo’s layer selected in your layer palette, choose Distort and then Spherize from your Filters Menu. Choose a percentage somewhere between 50 and 100 using the preview to judge what percentage will work best with your photo. You may want to readjust the placement or size of your photo after you’ve applied this effect.

Once you’ve completed your snow globe you may decide to add a drop shadow to it to finish it off. And now your snow globe is ready to take the spotlight on your next holiday page!

Amy Kingsford is a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah who has been scrapbooking for 12 years. She teaches at Get It Scrapped and Masterful Scrapbook Design and is a creative team member for Danielle Young Designs and fellow Oscraps Designer Biograffiti. To see more of her work visit her new site at AmyKingsford.com. And for more “Photo Fun” join us next month to see what other tricks she has in store for you!

Photo Fun | Tip No. 3: Pop-Art Photos + Wall Art Template

guests, Photo Fun 2 Responses »

Aug 282011

Hi there it’s Amy again…with some more “Photo Fun!”

I hope you’ve all been enjoying your summer…I know I have . To commemorate the end of summer, I’ve got a fun technique to share with you today, as well as, a template that you can use to make your own pop art poster for the walls of your home, office or even your kids’ lockers!

To make my “The Things I Love About Summer” wall poster I used elements from Danielle’s Citrus Summer Kit to add a few summer touches and a fun photo technique to give my photos a sketched, pop art effect.

Follow the steps below to get this same look:

1. First open your photo in your version of Photoshop.

2. Next got to Filter—>Artistic—>Poster Edges and enter the quantities specified below:

Thickness: 2

Intensity: 1

Posterization: 2

3. Now go to Filter—>Artistic—>Cutout and enter the quantities specified below:

Levels: 3

Simplicity: 2

Fidelity: 1

4. Now convert the photo to black and white.

5. Use your magic wand to select the lightest color of grey in your background and select it–you may have to select it in more than one go so make sure you’ve selected to “Add to Selection” option in the Magic Wands menu bar.

6. Double click on your background layer to unlock it and then clear the selection by pressing delete–this is going to allow more of the color you choose to blend the photo with to show through.

7. Now drag your photo on top of the colored background layer of your choice and change the blending mode of your photo’s layer to multiply.

Note: If your using more than one photo with this same technique, you may want to go through afterwards and adjust the levels of all your photos so that the contrast in all of your photos is similar to one another.

To download my Summer Wall Art Template (.PSD), CLICK HERE. I hope you will enjoy using it along with this technique and I look forward to sharing more Photo Fun with you next month!

Amy Kingsford is a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah who has been scrapbooking for 12 years. She teaches at Get It Scrapped and Masterful Scrapbook Design and is a creative team member for Danielle Young Designs and fellow Oscraps Designer Biograffiti. To see more of her work visit her blog Scrappydoo. And for more “Photo Fun” join us next month to see what other tricks she has in store for you!

Photo Fun | Tip No. 2: Make Fun Photo Masks Using Digital Elements

announcements, Photo Fun, tutorials 3 Responses »

Jun 142011

Hi everyone…Amy here again for some more “Photo Fun!” Today I’d like to share a simple way to turn your every day digital elements into fun photo masks!

I’m sure most of us are familiar with the basic clipping mask and the method by which they are created, but for those of you who aren’t–here’s a quick run-through:

A clipping mask is created when you “clip” one layer to another by using the command CTRL+G (in PSE) or ALT+CTRL+G (in Photoshop).
This method is often used to add your digital papers to templates and custom shapes.
A photo mask, then, is created when you clip your photo to another layer, allowing it to take on the shape and opacity of that layer.

There are a wide variety of photo masks available for purchase, but today were going to take a look at how we can turn the digital products you already own into photo masks–creating unique photo effects in your pages.

1. Start by opening the digital element of your choice and the photo you’re going to be working with in your version of Photoshop.

2. Next resize the digital element to the size you’ll be working with for your project or page.

3. Then drag your photo onto your digital element and “clip” it to the element using CTRL+G or ALT+CTRL+G.

4. Adjust the photo size and position, so that it appears the way you want it to inside of the shape you’ve clipped it to.

5. If you want you can use your blending modes or adjust your opacity to get the effect you’re looking for.

6. Now you’ve got a custom photo mask that allows your photo to be the center of attention, while contributing to the overall theme of your page.

Using Blessed Blooms, High Tide, Three Ring Circus and Family Kits by Danielle Young Designs

You can try this same technique with your alphas, fonts, flourishes, splatters, and more–to create one-of-a-kind photo effects on your pages.

Join us next month for more photo fun! I’ll have a Summer-Themed Project Tutorial to share with you and another excuse to have fun with those photos!

Amy Kingsford is a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah who has been scrapbooking for 12 years. She teaches at Get It Scrapped and Masterful Scrapbook Design and is a creative team member for Danielle Young Designs and fellow Oscraps Designer Biograffiti. To see more of her work visit her blog Scrappydoo. And for more “Photo Fun” join us next month to see what other tricks she has in store for you!

Photo Fun | Tip No. 1: Create Unique Photo Textures Using Digital Papers

guests, Photo Fun, tutorials 2 Responses »

May 182011

Hi there! My name is Amy Kingsford and I am a proud member of Danielle’s Creative Team! Danielle has been kind enough to lend me your ears once a month to share some fun ways to play around with those beautiful photos of yours! Today I’d like to help you use your digital papers to bring a unique feel to your photos, in a way that can help to unify them with the rest of your page. In just 5 easy steps you’ll be on your way to creating one-of-a-kind photo textures for your photos, using your favorite digital papers!

Let’s get started…

1. First open your photo in your version of Photoshop and preform basic edits and cropping.

2.If you’re looking for a definite “colorized” effect, in which your photo will take on both the hue and the texture of your digital paper, you may want to desaturate your photo first to make sure you’re getting a good color match. This can be done by using SHIFT+CTRL+U in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

3. Next choose a textured paper you’d like to work with. I’ve chosen this taupe colored paper with a subtle woven texture, from Danielle’s latest release “Through The Years”.

4. Then drag your textured paper onto your photo and clip it to your photo using CTRL+G in Photoshop Elements or CTRL+ALT+G in Photoshop.

5. Then go ahead and change the blending mode on your digital paper’s layer to Overlay. This is a great option for getting a nice blend of the details in your photo and the texture/color in your paper.

Now your photo is ready to use on your layout and contribute to the overall feel of your page!

Don’t be afraid to try out different blending modes or to play around with your opacity for different effects. You can also blend together more than one paper! The key is to to have fun and then you’ll be sure to come away with something you LOVE!

Amy Kingsford is a happy wife and blessed mother from Northern Utah who has been scrapbooking for 12 years. She teaches at Get It Scrapped and Masterful Scrapbook Design and is a creative team member for Danielle Young Designs and fellow Oscraps Designer Biograffiti. To see more of her work visit her blog Scrappydoo. And for more “Photo Fun” join us next month to see what other tricks she has in store for you!