8 Graphic Design Tools That Will Simplify Your Life

This article is contributed by Serena Dorf. She’s is an enthusiastic content writer. She is passionate about writing, personal development, psychology, and productivity. Feel free to connect with her on Twitter.

Any occupation is made fun-filled, interesting and relatively convenient with good kits. The same goes for graphic designers who seek to maximize their work potentials and make things simpler. No graphic designer should downplay the need to keep track of new useful tools that can make the life of graphic designers easier. Here, you are about to learn amazing graphic design tools that will make your professional life easier.

1 – Photoshop

Editing photos have never been such easy prior to the advent of Photoshop. Photoshop is a design tool invented in the year 1988. In spite of this long period of existence, it still retains its place with graphic designers generally. Photoshop has interesting features that make the work interesting. The programmed options bring life to the images which make the job of the graphic designer quite exquisite.

This even works for beginner graphic designers. It has simple basic options like cropping, rotating, flipping, and straightening. It also comes with other advantages like one-touch alteration, the ability to remove every blemish, the slide controls which enhance the colors of the images, one-touch filter, RAW template support and other social media plug-ins like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Due to its versatility, Photoshop has found its way into other professions. For example, expert writers at EssayOnTime make use of Photoshop for some technical papers that require images. With this tool, you can weed out unwanted objects from the image; you can use basic features like perspective correction, clone stamp, and channel mixing. The tool works on all Windows and Mac.

2 – GIMP

Another graphics design tool you can make use of is the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). The standard tool makes it befitting for not only graphic designers but pro photographers also. The photo manipulation feature appears to be greatly improving. The flexibility it provides for designers is amazing.

The moment you start making use of GIMP it is likely to attain the level of being your major publishing device on desktop. The interface or tool is absolutely customizable and the complete screen option permits you to see and edit all at the same period. GIMP can be used on Linux, Windows and some other OS. As a tool that is useful with other graphic design software, it enjoys a viable community that supports it.

3 – Illustrator

Suppose you desire to make use of vector arts to design sketches, icons, typography, logos or some other topnotch illustrations for video or mobile, then Illustrator comes to your aid. You are capable of designing splendid artworks with thorough alignment by simply drawing pixel orientation shapes.

You can create designs faster with Illustrator. Plug-ins which help you in designing a blank web page into an excellent looking web page are available for your use on Illustrator. The price may be high though. But this downside is made up for with its useful merits – Illustrator comes with awesome advantages of Touch-type tool, the Free Transform tool, and is also useful on Windows as well as Mac.

4 – Inkscape

This is an alternative to Ai. Ai is a pro device properly used for admirers of vector art and other graphic designers who employ SVG file format. The device is great on Linux, OS, Mac, Windows, etc. It really does not matter if you were a pro or even a person who only designs vector images for a personal blog or even as a hobby.

It helps you with coloring, sketching or making photos Inkscape poses to be very easy to employ. With respect to the Ghostscript annex, the EPS files are convenient to read. The capability to openly edit the source code; the edit clones on the canvas; edit gradients; keys to move screen pixels are some of the features you would find interesting.

5 – CorelDraw

For all aspiring web designers who want the services of a graphics editor that offers infinite designs without any restrictions, CorelDraw is at your help. CorelDraw offers the most popular industry standard editors currently. It also has some good-to-go functions and such a convenience of use which no other vector editor can offer. CorelDraw greatly works properly with very large files in Corel Photo-Paint which makes it a must-have graphic design software.

6 – Adobe InDesign

Created and supported by the Adobe Corporation, InDesign is a typical business leader for laying out design templates on the desktop and mobile devices. Adobe InDesign is proper for all layout design usage like online magazines. If you design layouts like brochures, digital magazines, printed books, Adobe InDesign is the tool to opt for. CorelDraw affords every graphic designer the flexibility of drag-dropping isolated layers. It helps you resize the image with all manner of convenience.

7 – Corel PaintShop

Here’s another useful tool from the Coral team. We consider it the latest adaptation tool for editing impressive photos which even helps photo management generally. It also has some high-grade features which newbie and professionals would enjoy.

8 – ACDSEE Photo Editor

This photo editor has unique features of standard photo editing kits. You can always draw your own designs or make use of the software’s templates or formats that. It also provides better sharing modules. Its maximum zooming option of about 3200% also helps graphic designers to view and edit every detail of the design.

Conclusion

Creativity is the substance of greatness. We encourage any professional, especially graphic designers to stay creative and focus on leveraging the best tools. Because we all need the best tools in order to optimize our performance, irrespective of the profession. With good tools within reach, you will be more confident, your services will be more attractive to people and you will be able to stay on the top of your game.

How to Add Copyright and Contact Info to a Photo in Photoshop

Today’s world is full of sharing our own content. You take photos and share them on 500px.com, Instagram, Flickr, and Facebook. But, your photos can be used by any person without your permissions. One more problem is that if someone wants to contact you by looking at your photo on a random site, it will be very hard. This is where adding copyright and contact info to your photos come handy. So, I think that I should write a tutorial on how to add contact info to a photo in Photoshop.

I found a beautiful picture on Pexels by Mr. Luke Siemionov and I decided to use that photo for this tutorial. For this tutorial, I am just showing how to add copyright and contact info. I respect Luke’s work and I will not add my copyright info to this image.

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Photo by Luka Siemionov from Pexels

Let’s go

Step 1 – Open File Info

Open the image in Photoshop. Go to File > File Info. You can also press Cmd + Opt + Shift + I/Ctrl + Alt + Shift + I as keyboard shortcut.

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Step 2 – Fill the Information in the Contact Details

Photoshop will open the Basic tab as soon as it opens the File Info.

Write down everything that you want to add.

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In the copyright status, change the status to “Copyrighted”.

Wondering how to add the copyright symbol? For macOS, press Opt + G. For Windows, hold down Alt and then press 0169.

Now, switch to the IPTC tab.

Before we begin, I want to explain what is IPTC.

What is IPTC?

IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council) is the most common metadata among photographers to add their contact info and copyright status.

This is how it’s defined on iptc.org.

IPTC Photo Metadata sets the industry standard for administrative, descriptive, and copyright information about images.

Enter your contact info here.

You can also add multiple names in the “Creator”. So, when someone finds your photo then one will see multiple people in the creator.

Enter your email ID and website so that one can easily contact you.

Press OK.

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Step 3 – Export the Copyright Info for Future Uses

I would be frustrated if I need to write this info one by one for every photo that I take.

Photoshop understands this pain. It allows you to create a template that I can use for all of the future images with just a few clicks.

At the bottom, click on the Export. Refer the below screenshot.

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Give it a name and save it at the default location that Photoshop suggests you.

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Step 4 – How to Import Copyright Info

Simply open the File Info from File > File Info.

Go to the bottom and choose the copyright info that you created. That’s all.

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Step 5 – Add Copyright and Contact Info to Multiple Photos

You need to have Adobe Bridge (a standalone software that comes free with Photoshop subscription) for this.

Open Adobe Bridge and browse to the photos.

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Select the photos to which you want to add the copyright and contact info. Right click on them and select File Info.

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Select the copyright info and press OK. That’s all.

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This is all, folks.

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5 Photoshop Tools to Take Your Images from Good to Great

This tutorial is contributed by Lilian Chifley. She’s an IT specialist, teacher, and blogger from Sydney. She loves to talk about artificial intelligence and modern education. You can find Lilian on Facebook and Twitter.

Even the most skilled photographers don’t always get the result they wanted. To fix up images, both professionals and beginners use the single best tool available – Adobe Photoshop.

What people love about the program the most is its versatility and the vast number of tools available. But what are the most essential ones that everyone needs?

To answer this question, we’ve analyzed views of various photographers and come up with the 5 tools that will transform your images. Let’s take a look…

Shadow and Highlights Tool

The purpose of this tool is to make the details more visible in the shadowed areas of the image. In some cases, you want your photos to be as realistic as possible, but a lack of light might prevent you from doing so. If your photo contains dark shadows, the shadows and highlights tool is the perfect solution for restoring clarity.

To access it in Photoshop, follow the route: image > adjustments > shadows and highlights

The highlights part of the tool might seem a bit too unnatural to some, so you can use the shadows part. To determine the best way to use the shadows tool, Tabitha Marsh, designer at Aussie Writings Service suggests that the Amount slider should be at about 30-30%. She has used the feature for the company’s website. She’s of the view that more than 35% will make your image seem artificial. Once you start seeing a strange glow, don’t go further.

Levels Tool

Now that you’ve set your shadows to increase the detail, you will want to focus on the exposure. Follow the path: image > adjustments > levels, to reach the levels tool.

Once you’ve clicked it, you will see something that’s called a histogram appear. This graphic is merely a representation of all the pixels in the image.

How can you analyze the graphic? Well, if the graph is more oriented towards the left, your image has darker tones. If the pixels are concentrated to the right, it means that you are dealing with light colors mostly.

Adjusting the contrast is possible by using the output slider. Calibrate it any way you want, but stop when the color contrast seems unnatural. The point of fixing images is adding details that are possible in reality, not crossing the line.

Color Balance

Many photographers love the color balance tool due to its influence on the atmosphere of the image. Sometimes, when you snap in an environment, you can’t capture the right color composition. To make your image seem more realistic, you can calibrate the color balance using this tool. The path is image > adjustments > color balance.

Once you’ve opened the tool, you will see three sliders dedicated to colors. By default, they’re set in the middle. The sliders balance between cyan/red, magenta/green and yellow/blue, respectively. Move the slider to see how your image is affected.

For daytime photography, we would suggest striving towards red, magenta and yellow. In spite of the general consensus about Photoshop, it’s easy to use, and color balance is an example.

All you have to do is observe the image and see which hues should be added. Be sure not to overdo the balance, as your image will see oversaturated and artificial.

Hue and saturation

Here, we encounter perhaps one of the most underrated tools in all of Photoshop. Opening it is done by following the path: image > adjustments > hue/saturation.

Upon opening the tool, you will see that there are three sliders here as well. They are dedicated to Hue, Saturation, and Lightness. The hue-dedicated slider calibrates the shade of color, but don’t overuse it, as it rearranges the color scheme.

Our main focus is on the saturation and lightness sliders. How dark you want your image to be? Adjust the lightness slider to see which amount of light fits you best. Additionally, saturate the image if you feel like it’s too “cold” or that the colors aren’t warm enough. For more complex settings, you can manually calibrate each color, instead of the same image.

Vibrance

Once you’re done with the other tools, you would want to put the finishing touch on the image. The truth is that not even the above 4 tools are enough to make the image perfect.

Some people want every detail to be perfect, and there is no better finishing tool than the vibrance one. There is not much science to it. It’s an AI-governed tool that fixes colors that aren’t properly saturated.

Containing two sliders, one for saturation and one for vibrance, this tool allows you to fix any mistakes. Oftentimes, photographers use it to restore the image to a more natural state.

Vibrance will give you more pronounced colors individually, but they will seem to be in harmony rather than in contrast. The amount you move the sliders is entirely up to you, and you should stop once the image seems unnatural.

Concluding thoughts

These five tools can make significant changes to your images. What makes them so spectacular is the fact that applying them won’t make your image seem unnatural. To the naked eye, it will be impossible to spot the changes that the image had undergone. In Photoshop, it’s best to go slow and not overdo it. These five simple tools are enough to take your photography to the next level.

How to Change Negative Image Into Positive in Photoshop

This tutorial is contributed by Peter Hill. He is the best editor of BestEssayTips. He is a socially active person, likes traveling and photo/video editing. He finds himself in writing. Feel free to contact him on Google+.

Sometimes you may need to turn a set of negative images into positive those have inverted values, or it may also happen that you have mistakenly scanned a number of negatives without using the appropriate mode. In such a situation, you may feel depressed being unaware of the process of changing a negative image into positive. But, from onwards you don’t have to be so because in this article we have presented a complete guideline that shows you the step by step process of turning your negative images into a bunch of successful positives. We feel delighted to let you know that there is rarely any guideline that is as exact and clarified as this one. So, stay till the end and preserve the article.

Changing of Negative Images to Positives

The changing process is essentially divided into two precise segments where the first one relate how you can invert the image and the second segment tells you about the correction of color. The sole motive of this division is to facilitate the entire thing for you. Let’s begin with the first segment.

Inverting Image

Inverting image refers to the interchange of up and down and right and left of an image.  An inverted image is also known as a reversed image. However, the first segment is divided into the three following phases to present the entire method easily.

Step 1

At first, click the file > option to open it. Then, from there press the open option or Ctrl+O.

Step 2

Now, use the following options consecutively: image, adjustment, and invert. Your image will instantly turn into positive. You can even back it to negative using the command once more. Using this procedure, you can change both the color and values according to the complements of them.

Step 3

In this final step of the inverting image segment, you should click Layer, then New Adjustment Layer and finally Invert only if you are interested in completing the action as a segregated layer. You can remove it subsequently if needed.

So here ends the ‘Inverting Image’ part whose successful completion leads to the beginning of the latter segment known as ‘Correction of color.’

Correction Of Color

Correction of color is an attempt to set colors on your positive matching the settings and requirement. Though the phrase sounds to be interesting and exciting, yet it is a matter of great responsibility because a faulty color correction can ruin the entire image or even make it look funny. Like the previous segment, this one also has three significant phases where each phase is connected to one another and remains unfinished when another phase is not performed correctly.

Step 1

At first, you should open the Color Balance Toolby consecutively clicking Image, Adjustment, and Color Balance. Otherwise, you can simply click Ctrl+Bfor opening the window of Color Balance.

Step 2

Then, draw the descending ruler for Cyan / Red the entire path to the right side toward Red. You should perform this for the midtones, highlights, and shadows by examining each of the choices of Tone Balance at the end of your window and re-performing the action of the sliding ruler.

Step 3

In the end, you should drag the sliding ruler for Yellow / Blue whole path towards Yellow with the Shadows selected. Your image will start looking like a bit well-adjusted at this situation. You can still bring additional slighter modifications for removing any cast of cyan and blue that appears on the image through the inversion of the orange-dyed negative.

With this, the segment of color correction comes to an end. If you can follow each phase meticulously, then there is no doubt that you will be 100 percent successful in creating a great color combination without causing a bit damage to your image.

Pro Tips For You

  • Never perform a subsequent phase leaving the leading one unperformed
  • Never drag the sliding ruler for Red/Cyan or Blue/Yellow in lieu of Cyan/Red or Yellow/Blue

Final Judgment

Though there might be many more ways for changing your images from negative to positive, yet the way mentioned above is the most accredited one all over the world. So, why to take a risk while the best procedure is at hand? Therefore, we humbly recommend you to adopt this methodology just to enjoy the great outcomes that you never have.

[Pro Hack] Use Content Aware Fill to Remove a Person in Photoshop

I get asked how to remove a person many times. Every time I am asked, I say the same thing. There’s no one-way to remove a person. Just like there are more than 5 ways to convert a photo into Black and White in Photoshop there is more than one way to remove a person in Photoshop.

Some people say that the Clone Stamp tool is good, some say that they use Content Aware Fill, some uses the Healing Brush tool, and so on. They all are correct. To remove a person in Photoshop, or to remove an object in Photoshop, it all comes down to the area that is surrounding that person or object and personal preferences.

Today, I am going to show you a workspace (it was a tool in older versions of Photoshop than CC 2019) that can remove a person in Photoshop based on its surroundings. Adobe calls in Content-Aware Fill.

Content-Aware Fill works best if the surrounding of the person or object has a pattern and isn’t too complex. In my image, the background has a pattern of straight lines of sea and sand. Had it been too complex like there were so many random people around the man, Content-Aware Fill would have failed.

It was a menu icon back in versions which are older than CC 2019. But, it is launched as a workspace in Photoshop CC 2019. Adobe might have seen the potential of this tool and decided to enhance it.

I know that all of you don’t have Photoshop CC 2019. So, I am going to write this tutorial for both segment of people i.e. one who have CC 2019 and another who don’t.

Here’s my image. I want to remove the person who is holding the surfing board.

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Content Aware Fill for Older Versions of Photoshop

We are going to use the Fill option and ask Photoshop to automatically fill the person based on his surroundings.

Go to Edit > Fill. We will use Content Aware. But, I noticed that it’s grayed out. This is because I don’t have any selection in my image to fill.

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Step 1 – Duplicate the Layer

Now, I am going to duplicate my background layer because I want the editing to be non-destructive. This ensures that whatever I do, I will not be touching the original image, and I can go back in time if I mess something up.

Press Cmd + J/Ctrl + J to duplicate the background layer.

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Step 2 – Select the person, and Remove the person in Photoshop

Time to select the person to remove using any selection tool. I am using the Elliptical Marquee tool.

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Now, again go back to Edit > Fill. Press Shift + F5  as a keyboard shortcut.

Choose “Content-Aware” and make sure “Color Adapdation” is turned on. Press OK.

Color Adaptation basically tells Photoshop to fill the selection based on the change in colors.

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This is how your photo should look. Press Cmd + D/Ctrl + D to deselect.

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Here’s the GIF for you.

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Content Aware Fill Workspace for Photoshop CC 2019 and Newer Versions

Time to show how to remova a person in Photoshop who like to keep their Photoshop up to date.

Step 1 – Duplicate the Layer

Now, I am going to duplicate my background layer because I want the editing to be non-destructive. This ensures that whatever I do, I will not be touching the original image, and I can go back in time if I mess something up.

Press Cmd + J/Ctrl + J to duplicate the background layer.

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Step 2 – Select the Person

Time to select the person to remove using any selection tool. I am using the Elliptical Marquee tool.

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Step 3 – Use Content-Aware Fill Workspace

Go to Edit > Content-Aware Fill.

Now, you will see a workspace which looks like the below screenshot.

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There are 5 parts in this workspace. I have labelled each of them. Allow me to explain to you part one by one.

Sampling Area:

This is the area that is highlighted with the green color.

It shows that Photoshop will use this area as a sample to remove the person. In a simpler language, Photoshop will use this area to identify what to fill in the selected area.

Sampling Brush:

If you want to add or remove the sampling area, use this brush.

Add or Subtract:

If “Add” is turned on (denoted by the + icon), then wherever you brush with the Sampling Bursh, Photoshop will include those areas to the sampling area.

If “Remove” is turned on (denoted by the – icon), then wherever you brush with the Sampling Bursh, Photoshop will exclude those areas fom the sampling area.

Preview:

Real time preview of the final image.

Options:

This is where you tweak the settings to help Photoshop fill the area in a better way.

I will soon write a detailed tutorial on the Content-Aware Fill workspace soon. But for now, coming back to the original topic to remove a person.

The default setting is looking good and it has perfectly removed the person and solved the purpose. So, I am just going to click OK to finalize it.

This is how it looks.

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And, this is how you do it.

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[Complete Guide] How to recover deleted photos in macOS and Windows?

Did you ever happen to accidentally delete your photos or important data from your computer, laptop, camera, SD cards or any other devices which became a nightmare for you? For me, it happened one time. I lost more than 1500 photos that I shot during a trip.

As you’re reading this article, I am sure that you also want to recover your photos. The best way to recover deleted files without any hassle as now a variety of computer repair and optimization companies offer data recovery services. The sure shot way to recover deleted files is through EaseUS data recovery software.

Some of the companies cost a huge amount of money to recover deleted files and do not provide services worth that money. Due to which people get angry when they don’t get the services up to the mark. EaseUs data recovery wizard is the latest version of the software which is useful to recover deleted files for Mac and Windows.

A few facts about this great way to recover deleted files.

It was founded in 2004 and has served a lot of customers with its fantastic and impressive services. This recovery wizard can retrieve all the data like old deleted files, storage drives that were formatted or any other issues with your hard drive. It can recover audio as well as video files. Other than these any sort of document, graphics, emails, folders or compressed files.

drw-free

Anything which you can attach to your macOS or Windows will automatically gain access to the storage device and become a place for retrieving the data. As this is a free software as the name indicates it guides you throughout the process how to safely and completely recover your files from the start. It also has some paid versions which have some more capacity of data retrieval than this one but all function at the same level. Free does not mean that it would have some changes in its function as it has been checked as well.

Step 1 – Download the software

Download the software. when you start downloading, it will initially warn you not to install it on the partition from where you want to recover your files. It helps you all the way and takes you through each and every step to the wizard base interface.

In the first step you will need to pick up the source storage partition from your hard drive and in the second step, you are able to select the chosen files you wanted to recover.

EaseUS Data Recovery-select a location.png

This software does a deep and quick scanning for the lost files. Quick scan as the name indicates help in finding the data very fast and display them in the sort of a list.

Step 2 – Define the drive

After the deep scan is done, which make it sure that none of the files were left behind and all of them have been hunted down and recovered. After that, this software is able to perform a complete recovery of all the files that were in your storage. It’s also called as  hard drive recovery.

EaseUS Data Recovery Software-Scan

Step 3 – Recover the files

In the end, you are finally happy to see all the documents with their name, date, type, and size. You might preview some of the files by double click. The beauty of this software is that you will also be able to export these files for later reference and retrieve them by clicking on recover.

EaseUS Data Recovery-Preview

The Ultimate Guide to Cinematic Effect in Photoshop

There was a time when everybody was editing a photo in a cinematic way. They were using Photoshop actions, filters, and some were playing around with adjustment layers to achieve the cinematic effect. With the rise of so many filters, I think that the trend is starting again. So, here I present to you the ultimate guide to cinematic effect in Photoshop.

Let’s understand what we need to have to achieve a cinematic effect. A cinematic effect has to have below things.

  • An aspect ratio of 16:9
  • Blacks are brightened and Whites are darkened; basically a faded look
  • A little tint

We’re going to do the same thing in three different images. The settings of the adjustment layers will change a bit, but everything else will remain the same.

Before we begin, here are few of the before and after photos.

Before

before1.jpg

After

after1

Let’s begin the tutorial

Step 1 – Crop the image to 16:9

Grab the crop tool from the tool panel or press Shift + C again and again until it comes. Choose the 16:9 aspect ratio from the option bar.

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You will see 8 handlebars to crop an image. Drag those to keep the area you want to have after cropping.

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Press Enter/Return once you have selected the area you want to have.

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Step 2 – Add the tint

We are going to add a tint to the photo in this step. The color of tint matters a lot. As a rule of thumb, what is do is that I notice the most dominant color in the photo and add a tint of that color.

We have Green as the most dominant color in this photo. So, we’re going to give green color tint, and we’re going to use Gradient Map for this.

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map

It will colorize the image based on your foreground and background color. Don’t freak out. We will fix this.

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We are going to change the colors. Click anywhere in this box.

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Photoshop has some predefined gradients for photos which are quite awesome. We are going to use those.

Click on the gear icon and choose “Photographic Toning”.

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You will be asked whether to append those gradients into the current selection or add those gradients as a new selection. I choose “Add”, but you also choose “Append”.

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Now, it’s just a matter of time to find the gradient that suits your image best. My image as Green as the most dominant color. So, I am going to choose something related to green.

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Press OK when you’re done. Reduce the opacity to 40%.

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Step 3 – Give the Faded Effect

Faded effect means to make black areas brighter and white areas darker. We are going to use the Level adjustment layer for this. Yes, you can decrease the contrast to give faded effect but Level gives more flexibility.

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Level.

Drag the sliders to the right which are in the blue rectangle. Drag the sliders to the left which are in the red rectangle.

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Here is the image.

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Step 4 – Add Warmness to give Cinematic Effect in Photoshop

There is one thing missing. And, that is warmness. The photo needs to be a bit warmer.

Let’s add that with Photo filter. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter. Choose “Warming Filter (85)” and increase the Density. Make sure that “Preserve Luminosity” is turned on otherwise the photo will get darker.

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And, here you go. This is all. Here’s the final image.

after1

Let’s see few other images also.

I applied the same setting to the below image.

before2.jpg

and here is the result.

after2.jpg

Here is one more image. The only difference in the below image is that I chose Red dominant color in the gradient map rather than green. This is because the photo has red as the dominant color.

after3.jpg

How to Invert Colors in Photoshop

Google trend showed me that many people are looking to invert colors in Photoshop. This is quite simple yet I never wrote a tutorial on it. Shame on me. 😅 So, here’s the tutorial on how to invert colors in Photoshop.

The tutorial is quite simple and I am going to show you three ways to invert colors in Photoshop. Two involves Photoshop menu and panel, and one with the shortcut.

So, here you go.

Way 1 – Using Photoshop Menu Bar to Invert Colors in Photoshop

The very first thing that you need to do is to duplicate the layer which you want to invert. Press Cmd + J / Ctrl + J to duplicate. You know that I am a big fan of non-destructive editing, which means that I am going to edit the image without harming the original image which is present in the “Background” layer.

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Now go to Image > Adjustment > Invert.

It will affect the duplicated layer because that layer was active. My original image is completely untouched.

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I can easily go back to my original image just by clicking on the eye icon at the left of the layer. I have highlighted that icon in the below screenshot. You can’t see the icon because the layer is hidden and the eye icon is disappeared. But, if the layer is visible, you’ll see the icon there.

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Way 2 – Using Layer Panel to Invert Colors in Photoshop

This is the best way to invert colors. You don’t even need to duplicate the background layer in this method.

Press F7 to open the layer panel or go to Window > Layers to open layer panel. Click on the “Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer” icon which is fourth from the left. Not choose “Invert”.

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This is all. It will create an adjustment layer in the layer panel.

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Way 3 – Using Keyboard shortcut to Invert Colors in Photoshop

This is the fastest way to invert colors in Photoshop.

Duplicate the background layer by pressing Cmd + J / Ctrl + J.

Now, press Cmd + I / Ctrl + I to invert the color. It’s this simple and fast

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This is all, guys. These are the three ways the best ways to invert colors in Photoshop. Let me know which one you think is best.

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How To Write a Creative and Compelling Graphic Designer Resume

This post is written by Grace Carter. She is a tech editor at Australianhelp.com and Eliteassignmenthelp.com. She teaches interns, works with HRs and improves the quality of services.

It’s easy to think that you are such an excellent designer that clients will find you. However, there are so many Photoshop designers out there that are just like you. This means that if you want a great job you need to stand out.

And if you want to stand out, you need to write a great Graphic Designer resume.

Here are some tips:

1. You don’t need to be flashy

Many Photoshop designers feel like their resume needs to reflect their skills so they put an emphasis on an interesting design instead of putting an emphasis on good content. While this may attract initial attention, your resume will likely end up in the trash bin because you haven’t put enough effort into making your content shine. Go with something simple and effective.

2. Choose the right format

The format of your resume can make or break your case. It may not seem as important but it definitely is, in a more subtle way. For instance, it affects which sections you place first and in which order you place bullet points within that section.

If you have a lot of experience, go with reverse chronological as it showcases your career first which is likely much more impressive than your education. If you are a newbie, go for the chronological which showcases your education – your strongest point – first.

3. List proper contact info

People often don’t put enough emphasis on this area of their resume. However, when you think about it, this is a really important part. If you mess up your email address or your phone number, you’ll never know if you got hired. It can also say a lot about who you are as a person.

Make it simple – one phone number, one email address (make sure it looks professional), a link to your site and that’s it.

4. Write a good summary

Your summary should be about you and your goals, right?

Not really.

The summary of your resume should be all about what you have to offer to the other party. Write about your experiences but in a way that will allow your recruiters to see how you can help them. Use quantifiable data which is much more eye-catching than your average text. However, don’t make this section longer than five sentences and definitely do not say that your goal is just to get hired. Of course, it is, but you should say something like “My personal goal is to take on a part of the workload at the [name of the company] using my proven skillset”.

Tools That Can Help

How you write your resume is just as important as what is written. Poor grammar and sentence structure could cause doubt in your skill. The best thing you can do to avoid making mistakes is to use some of these tools, previously recommended by resume writers:

  • Resume Service– Because writing a resume can be so taunting, you can always employ a service like this one to help you with it.
  • ViaWritingand Simplegrad– Mistakes in grammar are pesky and ruin your reputation. Do something about them with these tools.
  • Oxessaysand Ukwritings– Proofreading can be a bit time-consuming and you often overlook some of the biggest mistakes. Imagine how that misspelled a niche-specific word is going to look to your recruiter. These tools were recommended by UKWritings review.
  • StateOfWritingand MyWritingWay– Sometimes, you just need some tips from like-minded people. Look for those on these blogs.
  • Essayrooand Boomessays– If you are looking for a good editor that can make your resume even better, look for these tools, recommended by Australianreviewer.
  • WritingPopulistand LetsGoAndLearn– These writing guides are an excellent writing help if you get stuck.

Write about your experience

“When creating an experience section, you should always pay attention to how relevant it is to the job you are applying to. If you had many assignments, list only the most relevant and similar ones where you excelled. If you are a new Photoshop Designer, you should find a few gigs on job boards or in your local community, do them for cheap and build some experience. It’s really a matter of showcasing your achievements on the job rather than your responsibilities,”  says Jenny Green, a resume writer from BigAssignments.com.

Include these as well:

  • Achievements within your education section – This adds credibility to your degree and makes you more appealing as a candidate.
  • List your crucial skills – These include those required in the job advertisement.
  • Add awards and accolades – These make you a lot more compelling g as your skill level is confirmed.
  • Add a link to your portfolio

Craft The Best Resume You Can

Even though writing a resume can be a bit difficult, you should always do your best. Follow the rules, be honest and remember to include all of the things stated necessary in the job advertisement. Hopefully, these tips help as well.

The Ultimate Guide to Layers in Photoshop

Last Sunday, I posted the ultimate guide to layer mask in Photoshop and I got emails that there’s no ultimate guide to layers in Photoshop on TrickyPhotoshop. You are partially right. There was no ultimate guide to layers on TrickyPhotshop until now.

Layer panel is something that you will use often in Photoshop. It is the thing that differentiates Photoshop from other cheap photo editing apps. You can do below things with the help of layer panel

  • Non-destructive editing
  • Go back to any point in time
  • Edit a photo with multiple revisions

What can you expect from this tutorial?

I will be showing you how does a layer panel look, what it is, how does it work, all the buttons that you get in a layer panel, its features, and most used shortcuts for layer panel to make photos for your business or personal use to create a better look.

Table of Content

  1. What is layers in Photoshop?
  2. What is layer panel in Photoshop?
  3. Where is layer panel located in Photoshop?
  4. Anatomy of layer panel in Photoshop.
  5. Major types in layers in layer panel in Photoshop
  6. Shortcuts in layer panel in Photoshop.

1. What is Layers in Photoshop?

I am going to explain it with an analogy. Think of two identical paintings. One painting is placed on another. So, the final result is a stack of two identical paintings. That is what layers in Photoshop is. It’s a stack of images placed over one another. The only difference between the analogy and the layers is that all layers don’t have to be identical.

In a nutshell, Layers are simply a stack of images placed over one another

If you brushed on the upper painting with white color, the lower painting will stay intact. Also, if a person is seeing the painting from the top, he will not see any change in the lower painting as it is covered by the upper painting. The same way layers also work.

Let’s say that you have two layers and you edit the upper layer. The final image you’ll see is what’s being edited in the upper layer. There are ways to manipulate this but I’ll come to this topic in another tutorial.

2. What is a Layer Panel in Photoshop?

Layer panel is the window where you’ll see all the layers. The highlighted part written with “Background” is a layer.

This is how a layer panel looks in Photoshop. I’ll explain everything in this panel shortly.

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3. Where is layer panel located in Photoshop?

If you’re using Photoshop for the first time, it should be at the bottom right.

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If by any reason it does not, you can open it by going to Windows > Layer. You can also press F7 as a keyboard shortcut.

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4. Anatomy of a layer panel in Photoshop.

Save below image. It is the most important image if you want to understand the layer panel. Here I have explained all buttons in a layer panel.

1.jpg

I am going to explain each one to you one by one. Let’s start with Layer Filter and go anti-clockwise.

Layer Filter – You will use it once you become an advanced user. There are so many types of layers like a normal layer, adjustment layers, smart object, etc. You can filter the similar types of layers via this.

Blend Mode – This is used to create special effects. Blend mode is basically the behavior of pixels that is based on the behavior of the pixels presents in the below layer. This is a bit complex topic. If you want to learn more, I have already written a complete guide on Blend Modes in Photoshop.

Visibility – You can show or hide a layer by clicking on this. It looks like an eye icon.

Thumbnail – This is the tiny view of the layer. It will preview how your layer looks

A layer – The entire thing that is surrounded by the blue rectangle is a layer.

Link Layer – It will help you to connect/link two layers. Two linked layers move together when you use the Move tool to move a layer

Layer Style – This is where you get options ta add fancy styles like a shadow, outer glow, etc.

Layer Mask – It adds layer mask. The layer mask controls the transparency of a layer.

Adjustment Layers – Here you can do basic adjustments like Brightness, contrast, saturation, photo filter, color balance, etc.

Group Layers – This comes into handy when you have so many layers. You can group multiple layers together so that your layer panel doesn’t look cluttered.

Delete Layer – This allows you to delete a layer. Many a time, you’ll be using the Delete/Backspace key to delete a layer rather than this one.

Create a New Layer – You can create a new layer here. Alternatively, you can use keyboard shortcut Cmd + Shift + N/Ctrl + Shift + N.

Locked – This allow a layer to be protected from moving.

Fill – It adjusts the amount of opacity of the pixels only. Any layer styles are unaffected and remain 100% opaque.

Opacity – It adjusts the amount of opacity. Layer styles are also affected by this.

5. Major types of layers in a layer panel

 

5.jpg

I will explain each layer one by one. Let’s start from the top.

Layer Group – You can group multiple layers inside a folder. Photoshop calls it a group. The icon of a group is a folder. To group multiple layers, hold down Cmd/Ctrl and keep on clicking the layers you want to group. Now, press Cmd + G/Ctrl + G.

Text Layer – This layers can contain only texts. You can change the font, size, styling of the text present in this layer.

Adjustment Layer – This is a special type of layer where you can edit the photo like changing its brightness, contrast, saturation, color, etc. non-destructively (means you can undo or change it at any point of time). Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer to have a look at the adjustment layers.

Layer Style – Add special effects with this type of layer. You can add inner glow, shadow, bevel, and so many things with this type of layer style. In the above photo, I have added Inner Glow and the same I can see as written. Go to Layer > Layer Style to have a look at the layer styles.

Layer Mask – This allows you to set the transparency of a layer. Suppose, there are two layers in the layer panel and you brushed the left half of the image in the layer mask with the black color. Then the left half of the image in that layer will become transparent and you can see what’s present in the layer beneath it.

Smart Object – A special type of layer that is actually a container that can hold; multiple (or 1) layers, vectors for illustrator, raw files, video, 3D or many other types of objects.

Background Layer – When you open an image, the image will be present in the background layer. There’s a lock sign at the right of the layer. This means that the layer is locked and you cannot move the image in this layer. Click on the lock to unlock it.

6. Shortcuts in layer panel in Photoshop

To select multiple layer, hold down Cmd/Ctrl and then click on the layers.

To turn the visibility on/off of a layer, click on the eye icon present at the left side of the layer.

To copy or duplicate a layer, press Cmd/Ctrl + J.

To move a selection to a new layer, press Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + J.

To move all selected layers to a group, select the layers and then press Cmd/Ctrl + G.

To merge all the layers into a new layer, press Cmd + Opt + Shift + E/Ctrl + Alt +Shift + E.

To add an inverted mask (everything will be hidden), hold Option/Alt while adding a mask.

You can drag elements from the layers panel into other documents

To clip a content, hold down Option/Alt and click in the layer panel between two layers.

To cycle through all the blending modes, press Shift + “+”. Press Shift + “-” to cycle in reverse.

This is all for today. Have a look at The Ultimate Guide series for more exciting tutorials.

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