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Adobe Photoshop Elements1Photoshop Elements, and other similar programs, provide the average individual with opportunities to experiment with digital photo manipulation like never before. We're going to provide some simple techniques on these pages that we're sharing with our students. To show how those might be used in a project, we'll begin with the end product and work backward from there. Keep in mind that we're not "experts," just fellow explorers sharing what we've discovered. In the "Fruits of our Labors" title screen, the original photo (which can be found at the bottom of this page), has had a Gaussian blur applied to approximately one-half of the image - right in the middle. In a new layer on top of that, simple straight lines have been drawn across the frame. (You don't have to use a new layer.) Each new line has had the opacity reduced by about half that of the previous. I used the eye-dropper tool to select a color off of the fruit in the center of the image so I could coordinate the colors on the page. The text on the frame, produced on another layer, was Baker Signet. With the text highlighted selected, I then clicked on Layer Styles, Wow-Neon Red. The font in the top line is about a 65 pt. font and that on the bottom is about 48 pts. Here's how I did it and here's a 3 minute movie using Real Media Player to show you the entire process. 1. Click on File, Open and bring in the photo. 2. Click on the Rectangular Marquee tool at the top of the left column in the toolbar. 3. Move into the picture where you will begin to select the area to be blurred, click, hold, and drag across to create the rectangular area. 4. Click on Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur. Adjust the slider bar to get the effect you want and then close it. 5. Move to Select, Deselect so that you can gain access to the entire picture. You'll add your lines next. 6. Click on the Eye Dropper tool and move into the picture to select a color for your lines. I used the area on the fruit in the center of the photo. 7. Click on the Pencil icon in the hanging toolbar. 8. Look at the menu options at the top. Select the type of "brush" you want to use to draw the line. Click on size to change the width and then look at Opacity and make sure it is set to 100. 9. Move to the area on the side of your photo immediately where the blur stops at the upper edge and click once. Hold down the shift key and now, with your mouse still down, hold and drag across your screen. Doing so with the shift key down produces a straight line. 10. Add lines as much as you want. I reduced the opacity of the lines for each one that I did after the first. 11. Add the text next. Click on the Text tool (the T). I used Baker Signet, 65 pt. for the title. Click in the photo and begin to type. You can use the select tool at the top of the right column to move the text you create. 12. With the text selected (it has little handles around it), I then clicked on Layer Styles, Wow-Neon, Wow-Neon Red. Figure 2 shows the same frame without the text. Figure 3 shows the original photo with a Gaussian blur applied to the entire photo. Figure 4 shows the original photo - web quality. Figure 1  Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  |