FlipTutorials

Photoshop Gradients Tutorial for Beginners

In this tutorial I’m going to explain to you how to use the photoshop gradient tool if you’re a beginner and give you some information on how to get the most out of it.

Now, looking in photoshop, there are various different options which you need to be aware of when using the gradient tool. Some create a linear gradient, whilst others work on producing a radial one and vice versa. So here’s how we go about using it.

1. Firstly, open up a new blank photoshop document. Choose any size, it doesn’t matter at all since this will just be used to practise using the gradient tool.

2.Next, select your gradient tool which is a small square with some shading in. (If you cannot see the tool then it may be that you can see the paint bucket tool instead. In which case, don’t panic, simply right-click on the paint bucket tool and you’ll get the option to switch it to the gradient tool).

3. As soon as the tool is selected, you will begin to see a different toolbar appear at the top which will give you different setting options for you to change and tweak as you wish. I’ll label these in more detail using the screenshot below.

4. So, looking at the screenshot above which gives a bit more information about the specific settings options, lets say we want to do a simple linear gradient which is green to yellow. So, we’d need to go to the top and select linear gradient and choose the two colours (green and yellow) in the colour boxes below so that they are the ones which will be drawn.

5. Now, we have all our settings correct, go ahead and draw in your gradient. Since it’s going from yellow to green, we need to drag a line where we want the gradient to be shown that starts where we want the yellow to be and finishes where we want the green to show.

6. If you want to use the gradient tool in a more controlled way then you can always make a selection before using it which means that the gradient will only work in the selected shape/area. To test this, simply use the ‘marquee tool’ (second one down in the toolbar) to draw a shape (any will do) and then select the gradient tool. Now simply drag the line where you want each colour to stop and start (as usual) and it will only colour the area within your selected shape.

Experiment with the different styles of gradient, colours and even preset colour options. These can be found by going up to the small preview of the actual gradient in the top left corner and selecting the small drop down arrow next to it. This’ll give you a small window with even more gradient coloured options. Experiment and see what kinds of effects you can create!

What are Layers in Photoshop , for Beginners

In this article, I’ll talk to you a bit about what photoshop layers are and briefly how they work.

At first, I can see how photoshop may seem a little overwhelming with all it’s fancy tools etc. but please do not be put off at all! These tools actually are all necessary and are all easy to use once you see how.

Photoshop Reflection Effect Tutorial 2.0 for Beginners

Here’s a quick little tutorial which should help you in creating a web 2.0 reflection effect using an image in photoshop even if you’re a beginner.

1. Choose an image which you want to add a reflection effect to and make a note of the size of it (width and height in pixels). Here I’m using a photo which I took as part of a photography project a while ago.

2. Open a new document in photoshop and set the size to the same width as your image and then set the height to about one and a half times your original image (this is so there’s room for the reflection at the bottom of it).

3. Copy your starting image and paste it into your blank photoshop document so that hopefully it looks something like this.

4. Make sure you select the layer with the image on (top layer above the background) and right click. This will give you numerous options one of which is ‘duplicate layer’. Click this and select ‘ok’ if a small dialogue box appears.

5. Now select the new top layer and go to edit > transform > flip vertical. This will mean that the top layer is now upside down whilst the second layer is your original image still. Once you have done this, simply drag the top layer (upside down image copy) downwards so that it is directly below your starting image. It should look like this:

6. For this step we need to turn off the visibility of the background layer (if you have one) by simply clicking the ‘eye’ icon next to it. Next thing we need t do is drag the top layer (upside down version) below the original image layer so hat it’s now in the middle and not at the top anymore.

7. Next, add a layer mask to the upside down layer. To do this, simply click on the small ‘ass layer mask’ icon in the layers window.

8. Once you have the layer mask, go to the gradient tool and select a black to white linear gradient. Then draw the gradient in from the centre of the upside down layer to the top of it. (Preferably straighter than the red arrow I have drawn on the screen shot!)

9. All that’s left is to lower the opacity of the reflection layer to around 80% or so and maybe crop it slightly to suit your taste.

That’s all there is to it. There you have it, your very own reflection 2.0 photo effect. Enjoy!

Photoshop Water Reflection Effect Tutorial for Beginners

Here’s a quick little tutorial for beginners which should help you in creating a reflection effect to an image using photoshop.

1. Choose an image which you want to add a reflection effect to and make a note of the size of it (width and height in pixels). Here I’m using a simple photo which I took last year at a market.

2. Open a new document in photoshop and set the size to the same width as your image and then double the height of it.

3. Copy your starting image and paste it into your blank photoshop document so that hopefully it looks something like this.

4. Make sure you select the layer with the image on (top layer above the background) and right click. This will give you numerous options one of which is ‘duplicate layer’. Click this and select ‘ok’ if a small dialogue box appears.

5. Now select the new top layer and go to edit > transform > flip vertical. This will mean that the top layer is now upside down whilst the second layer is your original image still. Once you have done this, simply drag the top layer (upside down image copy) downwards so that it is directly below your starting image. It should look like this:

6. Again, keeping the top layer selected, go to filter > distort > ocean ripple. This should bring you up some settings where you can tweak the ripple size and the ripple magnitude so do this until you’re hapy with the effect and then hit ok.

7. Now, we have the desired effect of the rippled reflection, but the proportion is a bit wrong since the reflection should be thinner. To achieve this, simply go to edit > free transform and then drag the centre bottom square lever upwards so that the reflection gets smaller. Now, it depends on each image how small you want to make it so I have just done a quick example but you can play around with it until it suits you.

8. All we need to do now is crop the image to get rid of the excess white canvas space at the bottom. To do this, just select the crop tool and literally draw it around your hole image and hit enter.

This leaves us with our final completed water reflection photo manipulation. Obviously, pick your image carefully since this effect doesn’t work with all photos and my example isn’t the best choice but you can clearly see the effect and how it’s created. So go ahead, try it out of a few of your photos and see if you can create some cool water reflection photo manipulations since they really do only take a few minutes!

Abstract Photoshop Tutorial , Swirling Light for Beginners

Here’s a quick abstract photoshop tutorial for beginners which will guide you through simple steps and talk you through how to create this swirling light effect.

1. Firstly, open a new photoshop document any size and hit ‘D’ on your keyboard so your colours revert to the default settings of black and white.

2. Create a new layer (layer > new layer) and on this new layer we will filter some clouds (filter > render > clouds).

3. Then, go to filter > pixelate > mezzotint making sure that the type is set to short strokes.

4. Next, select filter > blur > radial blur and choose the following settings: Amount= 100 Blur Method= zoom Quality= best

5. Simply hit Ctrl + F to repeat the radial blur again.

Now you should have something like this:

Now you should have something like this:

7. Now, right-click on your swirly layer and select ‘duplicate layer’. This will make another layer identical to the swirl.

8. Now, click on the top layer (one you just made) and go to edit > transform > flip horizontal.

9. Once you have done that, select the layer style (for the top layer again) to lighten rather than normal.

Here’s an extremly effective little photoshop tutorial for beginners on how to add some clever motion blurring effects to your photos.

Choose an image that preferable is an action image. I chose a cantering horse ( from this stock horse site: http://limitofgold.deviantart.com ). I have decided that I would like to give this picture a bit of character by adding a nice motion blur to the background.

1. Open your image in photoshop as usual

2.  To start, let’s use the ‘Edit in Quick Mask Mode’ tool. The tool icon is a small circle in a rectangle and can be found under the colour swatches near the bottom of our main tool panel. (Or simply tap the letter ‘Q’ on your keyboard).

3. Once you have entered the mode then make sure your colours are set to white and black (default colours).

4. Now, using any normal brush (I normally go for a soft round brush) carefully paint over the section of your image that you wish to remain still and in-focus. So in my example I would want to paint the horse since I want the horse to remain still. You should have something like this:

5. Next thing to do is change the mode back to normal. Simply hit ‘Q’ on your keyboard or click on the ‘circle in a square’ icon to the left near the bottom. Then it should automatically have a dotted selection line all around your main still picture.

6. Now, simply go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur

7. Once you have the motion blur pop-up box you can tweak the settings to your liking. As you can see, for mine I used an angle of -7 and a distance of 16p. Choose whatever works best for your picture and have a play around with it to see.