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Sound Bites Coaching Newsletter July, 2007      Issue# 41

 By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of "Sound Bites Product News". Sound Bites is a division of MSIncome.com. You are receiving this newsletter because you requested a subscription or purchased one of our products. This newsletter is only delivered once a month. Unsubscribe instructions are at the end of the email we sent you. Coaching for this month is Photoshop

  IN THIS ISSUE

 

Contents

1. Thought of the Week - (Adversity)
2. From the Editors Desk - (Quentin Brown - Photoshop)
3. Special of the week -
(Tear Away Adds
4. Coaching -
(Become A Graphic Artist)
5. Tips and Tricks -
(Photoshop Actions)
6. Feature article -
(Image Jump
7. What's New -
(Video Wizzard with Resale Rights)
8. Joke of the week - (Money)
 THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
 

Video Lighting 

 " In the presence of adversity, there are those that use crutches, and others who grow wings." Author Unknown

 WELCOME FROM QUENTIN and the STAFF of Sound Bites & IM Training
 

Welcome to another issue of Sound Bites
From the Desk of Quentin Brown
Date: Aug 1 2007  - 3:20P.M.
Reference: Photoshop.

 Quentin Brown

This month I have been playing with blogs and adding a lot of my training to them. I have started to use Photoshop and found it to be an amazing program. I have been told for years about it but when I open it I was just confused. So a few months I took the leap and have been having a great time. Look for my easy videos on the page.

Not only have I been playing with Photoshop but I have also been learning how to monetize free sites. I have been adding all the tutorials from which I have been learning to my new blog at http://www.msiphotoshop.com and adding all sorts of interesting advertising to it.

In all the experience has been a lot of fun and you can do it very cheapley and easily. This month we will have a look at some of the things I did.

My status

Quentin
Coaching for Success
PS. If you would like any subject covered just drop me a line.

 
 
 SPECIAL OF THE WEEK - Tear Away Adds!

 

MSI Peel You can see it at the top of this page. If you just want the peel script make sure you go for the ten dollar bonus at the top right of the page.

  COACHING - Photoshop

Hello and welcome to this weeks coaching. A special welcome to all our new members. 

This month we look at Photoshop and how you can become an instant Graphic Artist.

This month I was asked to do a tutorial on Photoshop and how to easily use some functions to get started..

Video Tutorials

If your just a beginner I have made a very simple to follow beginners video for you covering some of the basics. I did this for my wife on a Sunday afternoon so you see my mistakes, hear the traffic etc but they will show you the basics and get you up and running quickly.

Click here to watch the video.

Here is the action script for the ebook cover I used in the above tutorial Download here. (zip file 117kb)

Photoshop ebook Action

If you prefer reading here is a great pdf that will also take you through the basics.

Once you learn the basics our friends over at Watch And Learn Photoshop are releasing a few new products and have also released not one, not two, not three but seven free photoshop video tutorials/tips. Their videos are a lot more professional than my Sunday afternoon effort.

Here they are:

Levels Adjustment

You may already know the basics of the levels adjustment tool, but in this video, Geoff Riggs will show you a neat little trick you may not have known. Using this method you’ll be able to very quickly and effectively adjust the brightness and contrast of your image in a very intuitive manner.

Perspective Cropping

It seems like it would be quite a task to straighten up a picture of an object that was taken at a severe angle. However, Photoshop’s Perspective Cropping feature allows you to do this in one simple step. In this video, you’ll learn how to use this amazing tool in Photoshop.

Steel Text Effect

The great thing about text effects is that they’re usually very easy to reproduce. In this tutorial, trainer Geoff Riggs will show you how to make a steel text effect, and then he’ll show you how to save this effect so that it can easily be applied to other layers in the future.

Colorizing Black and White Photos

Many black and white images can be made much more interesting simply by adding a little color. In today’s tutorial, Geoff Riggs will show you how to paint color onto a black and white photo.

Painted Frames

In today’s video tutorial, Geoff Riggs will show you how to created a quick and easy frame for your photographs simply using the eraser tool.

Non-Destructive Dodging and Burning

The Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop are great tools for lightening and darkening areas of your images. However, these tools are destructive to your original photograph and can only be reversed using your History panel. In this tutorial, Geoff Riggs will show you a more creative and effective way of achieving the same effects without affecting the image layer itself.

Series Preview – Creating a New Document

Today’s tip is an excerpt from the upcoming video series, “Introduction to Photoshop CS 2? by trainer Geoff Riggs. In this video clip, you’ll learn some of the basic options available to you when creating a new document in Photoshop.

Bicubic Sharper

When resizing an image in Photoshop, if you use all the default settings, the image will end up with a little bit of a blur to it–hardly distinguishable, but it is there. In this tutorial, you will learn how to customize the way your image is resampled when you resize it in order to maintain the sharpness of the image.

3D Angled Text

Have you ever wanted a line of text to pop off the page? In this tip, Brian Harber shows a 3D angle effect that will make your text standout.

Red, Black and White

Who knows where the new style of a single-color (usually red) contrasted with black and white came from? Regardless, Brian Harber shows us in this video the various methods of capturing that vibrant red or other color while desaturating the rest.

Clear Skies

In this tip, Brian Harber explores the wide potential in sky replacement and subsequent color adjustment. If you’ve ever had a picture that you loved, but it was unfortunately very cloudy or dull, here’s an easy way to spice up that picture.

Making a Photo Old

There are lots of methods of aging a photo. Instead of just weathering and roughing it up, Brian Harber shows us the basic properties of old photo exposure, and how to achieve the same look in Photoshop. [High contrast, fuzziness, random shadow from flash; no true black; THEN add dust & scratches]

“Photoshop CS2 - Designing with Photos” Preview

In this video tutorial, trainer Geoff Riggs demonstrates several different ways to convert an image to black and white using Photoshop CS2, and discusses the positives and negatives of each method.

Open Type Font Embellishments
Description:

Photoshop trainer Geoff Riggs shows you how to add embellishments and alter the appearance of specific letter pairings for open type fonts.

Tricky Selections
Description:

It’s not always easy to make complex selections in your Photoshop images, but in this tutorial, trainer Geoff Riggs will show you one very effective way to use the highlights in an image to make a selection in order to alter an image.

Cucoloris (”Cookie”) Effect
Description:

A cucoloris (or “cookie”) is a metal sheet with patterns cut out of it, intended to cast patterned shadows on the background (and often the subject) of a photograph. In this tutorial, trainer Geoff Riggs will show you how to achieve the same effect in Photoshop.

Dotted Lines
Description:

Photoshop doesn’t provide any quick means of creating dotted lines, but in this tutorial, Geoff Riggs will show you how to create your own customized dotted line quickly and easily, using the paintbrush tool.

Taming the Skies:

Ever have one of those photographs where the sky is too bright and harsh? In this tutorial, Geoff Riggs will show you an amazingly effective trick for toning down and recoloring an overly bright sky.

Warping Text with Smart Objects:

There are many ways to warp text in Photoshop, but most of them have their limitations. Some methods allow you to edit your text after warping, but don’t provide full customization of HOW you warp the text. Other methods allow full customization but don’t allow you to edit the text afterwards. In this tutorial, Geoff Riggs will show you a method for warping text that will give you the best of both worlds.

Have fun,

Expect Success

Quentin Brown
Streaming Media Made Easy
http://www.gisystemsgroup.com

 

  TIPS AND TRICKS - Become A graphic Artist with Actions

 

Photoshop Actions

PhotoShop Plugins, Filters, Brushes, Actions & Gradients

It’s amazing as to the amount of time and effort that people put into making plug-ins, filters, actions, brushes and such and then make them available to whomever wants them at no cost. All of the following are the “best of the best” and each one has received the highest rating from Adobe, and they are all free. I do not think that there are many items out there, that you have to pay for, that are better than the following…

http://msiphotoshop.com/photoshop-actions/

  FEATURE ARTICLE - Photoshop Image jump
 

Using Photoshop To Make an Image Jump Out of Frame

The following is a tutorial on making an “out of bounds” photo. I am assuming that you have basic Photoshop skills such as sharpening photos, cloning, resizing and working with layers.

BOAT3

First and foremost is choosing the right photo to manipulate. To get a true 3D effect, the target in the photo should be coming towards the camera at an angle similar to:

cat snowboarder

Though other types of targets can work with lots of practice and imaginative manipulation. Let’s begin. First open a photo in Adobe Photoshop. I will use a photo of another boat full of people. Size the photo to about the size you would like it be.

screenshot 01

Now duplicate that layer as shown below

screenshot 02

Now you need to isolate the target using your choice of isolation method. For this one, I chose the Magnetic Lasso tool, although sometimes the extraction filter works better. Once you have outlined it, you need to put the target (boat) in its own layer. Right click in the middle and choose layer via copy. You can use layer via cut, but it will leave a hole in the background and could be troublesome later during touchup work. The photo here has been put into a layer via cut.

screenshot 03

Add a layer at the bottom and fill it with color. I like to use gray but you can use black or white or anything you like. When you are done you should have a layer menu box that looks like the one below. The bottom layer is your solid color; the next layer is your original image, and the top most layer is the target (boat).

screenshot 04

Now you’re ready to distort the original image. So highlight that layer in the layer menu box. Then go to the Edit menu, select Transform, and choose Distort. Perspective works too, but I like Distort. This will put small boxes around your photo. Grab those boxes on one side and pull them in to shrink that side of the image and grab the opposing boxes and pull them in or out until you get a good result that you are happy with.

screenshot 05

It should end up looking something like this:

screenshot 06

Now for the touch up. If you created a layer via cut, you will see a hole in the slanted original photo that needs to be fixed. If you used layer via copy you will see part of the target that needs to be covered up or erased. So with the Clone tool, Healing Brush, Eraser…etc…fix that part of the original image to make it look as natural as possible. You could always use an entirely different background image than the one the target came from. It will take practice before you achieve a good result so just keep at it. You can add a frame now if you wanted or add the frame right prior to distorting the background image. Well….that’s about it…so Good Luck!

BOAT3

Daryl Moistner is a Land Surveyor, Travel Photographer, and Graphic Artist based out of Brightwood, Oregon. Check out his site at http://www.nevadasurveyor.com/

I did this tutorial my self and here is the result. Not bad for a first attempt.

Out of Frame with Photoshop

I got very creative then and added some water. Not bad for my first attempt.

dolpic5.jpg

 

 
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  JOKE OF THE WEEK -  Money
 

How you made money

A young man asked an old rich man how he made his money.

The old guy fingered his worsted wool vest and said, "Well, son, it was 1932. The depth of the Great Depression. I was down to my last nickel.

"I invested that nickel in an apple. I spent the entire day polishing the apple and, at the end of the day, I sold the apple for ten cents.

"The next morning, I invested those ten cents in two apples. I spent the entire day polishing them and sold them at 5:00 pm for 20 cents. I continued this system for a month, by the end of which I'd accumulated a fortune of $1.37."

"And that's how you built an empire?" the boy asked.

"Heavens, no!" the man replied. "Then my wife's father died and left us two million dollars."

 
  COPYRIGHT MSIncome.com 2007
 

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