www.reflectingthedesigner.com

Posts Tagged ‘photo-editing’

Well, I’ve been very busy on some projects recently as well as other “life” stuff that have kept me from being able to post as much as I’d like to. I just completed a full Wordpress website for a company that I did a WP blog for several months ago. They wanted their whole site transformed and consolidated into one Wordpress Site. It was a huge process as I had to set up Wordpress in their current hosting location, transfer the old blog over to it, and completely design and add content to their site from top to bottom. A huge thanks to a couple of helpful posts from Digital Raindrops on how to successfully add more widget spaces going horizontally across the bottom of the page and still in keeping with the format of the other widgets as far as design. Widget Logic, a Wordpress Plugin, was also a huge part of this site so that almost every page displayed different widgets that were applicable to that page. I also used a separate page template for the home page, but honestly I had to dig around through multiple posts online and work out things myself before getting the desired effect so no kudos to anyone on that part, although Wordpress does have some helpful articles on the subject. The key to page templates is to properly link to new css that you create for that template. Contact me if you are interested in taking a look at that site.

Other projects I’ve been working on is the logo and branding for a local church (still working on that, and will post pictures once complete.) I also just finished doing the blog redesign for My Skin Concierge, Ava which I like to describe as a Victorian Pink Explosion. It’s the ultimate “girly-girl” site, but why not with a topic like skincare? I still need to do a couple of little things on that one, and Ava will be organizing and structuring her menu items how she wants them when she has time.

I told one of the visitors to this site that I’d work on a matching WP theme, Twitter, and YouTube Channel for them, but after that I’m going to be stopping for a little while so I can get caught up on the rest of life. Thanks for your patience!

Well, as you can see if you’ve visited my site before, I’ve just updated the theme again. I like to create new design themes for my own site both for variety as well as to demonstrate some nice Artisteer, Photoshop, and WP tweaking techniques. I’ll list a few of those techniques in this post.

Photoshop:
Designing your own site elements really helps to tie the whole site together completely. By creating your own glare image, buttons, header images, etc. you can give your site a completely customized look without much work. For example, I created the background pattern using Photoshop. All I did was grab a plaid image off of the web (make sure you always only use copyright free images or pay for stock images!) I then, added the green, semitransparent crisscross stripe on a 100px x 100px image of the pattern. I also made sure to define it as a pattern so that I could use it in other elements of the design.

Artisteer:
The beautiful part of Artisteer is that it allows you to easily add your own graphics as texture, backgrounds, glares, etc. I uploaded my 100px x 100px image of the plaid and chose a tile repeat. I also chose the Overlay setting for the blending option in Artisteer and gave it a tiny bit of transparency so that the gradient I chose for the background would still show through nicely.

Artisteer comes with its own texture and pattern designs as well, which are nice to use. The header, button header, and footer are all sporting one of the many built in Artisteer texture graphics.

A great tip for Artisteer is to choose a nice solid background image or texture as a canvas for buttons and a logo you add to the code later. Note: Always make sure to make your header text as small as possible, the same color as your background, and put it in an out of the way spot in your header. This way, search engines will still find the text, but you will also be able to add a graphic as your main title.

Wordpress Trick:
Because I had a relatively plain header to start with, I was able to add my own clickable logo button and social icons to make the header look complete and give it nice interactivity. To do this, simply follow these steps:

• Create your images and upload them to your theme’s image folder.
• Add appropriate div classes and links to your Header PHP. It should look something like this (added code in orange):
  <div class=”art-Header>
  <div class=”art-Header-logo-png”onclick=”location.href=’URL TO THE LINK YOU WANT’;” style=”cursor: pointer;” title=”Home”></div>
  You’ll need to copy and paste this same code for as many images that you want to add. Just make sure that you label them each based on what they represent, and of course change the display title url to match. You’ll need to use the exact name for the CSS.
  
• Add  code to your CSS to display your images in the way that you want. Go to your Style Sheet CSS and find this /* begin Header */ Here is an example of the CSS code you should add for the example above (note, make sure to keep the div order the same as it is in the Header PHP):
  div.art-Header-Logo-png
  {
  position: absolute;
  z-index:0;
  top: 13px;
  left: 5px;
  width: 503px;
  height: 206px;
  background-image: url(‘images/header.png’);
  }
  You’ll need to make the width and height appropriate to your image size, change the position as desired, and most importantly make sure that your img url is the name that you saved your image is into your themes image folder.

Always make sure to save the php file before doing any editing in case you make  a mistake. You’ll most likely need to tweak the CSS several times in order to position your graphics exactly where you want them.

Wordpress Pluggin:
I made good use of the Display Pluggin available through Wordpress. This pluggin allows you to decide which pages you want certain widgets to be displayed on. Very helpful, and you could really have a lot of fun displaying a different graphic button for each page if you wanted to. (The images I added to the sidebar of the About and Welcome page is just some html I added to a text widget.)

I hope you enjoy this new theme, and please let me know if you are interested in a customized Wordpress or Blogger theme with setup included.

This was another Christmas card I just did for a family who wanted a very customized look. They also needed a few different versions of the same card for their business, close family and friends, and others on their Christmas card list.

The image to the right is the family version, but you can view their business version in my gallery.

This is what they requested:

• A 4×6 and 5×7 design that is different than the average, traditional template design.
• A full color photo of the family and black and white photos of their two children incorporated into the design.
• A design that would include the true meaning of Christmas along with the text on “Our heart, Christ’s manger.”
• All of the specific text elements you see in both versions including one for their business and one just for family and friends.
• A way to tie all of their requests together into a card without making it look disjointed.

Thankfully, the photos were the easy part on this card. They were professionally taken by the very talented Kristen Gallatin. The only thing I did was to zoom into a family pic to get the requested “yawning picture” of my customers youngest son, and change both pictures of the boys to black and white.

Photoshop Tips:

• Incorporating both black and white photos into one design can sometime look sloppy or cluttered. To avoid this, I chose to create the color palette for the card to match the colors from the central photo which served as the focal point of the card. I also, faded that picture into black and white as well as faded the entire card into black and white around the edges so that all of the elements of the card have the same feel to them.
• I use a ton of layers when working in Photoshop. I make a lot of duplicate layers, especially of backgrounds, than use a feathered, and slightly transparent eraser on the top layers to create the different vignette effects used in photos and background images.
• I used the Blending option heavily on the many layers of the background I used and most especially on the image of the nativity in the upper right hand corner.

Let me know if you need some emergency help on a Christmas card going out, and I’d be happy to discuss options with you!

This was a project for a family who wanted to send out a family Christmas Card but in a 5×7 size to easily fit into a frame. They also wanted a theme that was more of a wintertime feel rather than strictly Christmas and wanted to include their family picture as well as individual pictures of their kids. And, of course, they wanted the original snapshots edited to remove red eye, the background, touch up the coloring, etc. Try finding a template online to do all of that! However, just using Photoshop, I was able to take all 5 snapshots they sent me and turn them into a fun winter card that can be printed out as a photo or as an actual card. I used some of the elements from the previous Christmas card I made, so the design work was quick and easy to do, and fit all of their specifications.

Let me know if you are interested in a personalized Christmas card that is not just the run of the mill template you see everyday. I can usually turn a project around like this within a day, so shoot me an email to get started!

This is a photo I took while in Guam this past year. I edited and designed this picture specifically for the hand carved frame pictured here. It is formatted to be printed as an 8×10, and I have both the image with a verse (Proverbs 3:5-6) as well as an image with the verse part left out so that you can add your own quote or verse if desired. This was just printed out on my own home printer, and it turned out nicely.

Please note that these are copyrighted images and can not be re-produced or sold without permission.

Image with Verse – $10

Editable Image – $10

I’ve just uploaded the prayer journal I’ve been talking about to my Store page. It’s a free Word Document that is completely formatted and ready for you to add in your own person details and print. See the store to download and for more details. Along with the free document, I’m providing binder covers and tab insert designs for unbelievably low prices for those interested. It’s a nice touch for personal use but they would also make a nice gift as a part of completely printed journal. This is my first one, but there will be many more to come and several different designs offered.

This theme was done with a good friend in mind who loves lavender. It includes a 6.5″ x 8.5″ cover graphic, and four 5.5″ x 8.5″ tab pages that correspond to the divisions of the prayer journal I uploaded. These are all High Resolution JPEG images and each can be printed directly onto 8.5″ x 11″ paper. It works best on a photo paper or cardstock.

I’m selling these designs at such a low cost because they are designs I’m already doing for personal use and gifts. Because I’m already putting the work into them, I can pass along these pre-made designs to you at incredibly great rates. If you are interested in customized versions of these designs or your own personalized design, let me know and we can discuss price, etc. I’m willing to print and ship any custom designs, but would have to charge some additional fees to cover this.

Click on the Buy Now button to purchase this graphic pack for only $10. You are free to print as many copies as desired, but these are my own personal copyrighted designs and you do not have the permission to resell them or edit them in any way. Enjoy!

I did a post a couple of months ago on this topic when I was working on one picture of a set for a customer. I’ve now finished the other picture which is of his precious baby. This one is done in black and white to match the other, and also has a deep vignette. It will also be printed onto a gallery wrap canvas, so most of the dark edge will be wrapped around the sides and top of the picture.

This is an example of how you can take a small and pixelled photo and turn it into wall art. There are a few things to remember, though.

1. Up-size your photo using Photoshop’s Actions. By only up-sizing the image in 10% increments you will greatly reduce the overly pixeled look of the final product. (Let me know if you are not sure of how to do this)
2. Create a new layer on top of the layer with the photo, and do all of your editing on that layer so that if/when you make a mistake you don’t have to start from scratch.
3. Match colors found in the original (you may want to adjust the color, brightness, hue, and/or contrast of the original first) and use appropriate sized paint brushes with a very low opacity and with no hardness on the edges to “paint” over the original smoothing out edges and creating the desired effect.
4. The easiest way to add the vignette without affecting either of the photo layers is to add a new layer and fill it with the color you want your border to be. Then, simply using an eraser with a low opacity and no hardness, erase away the middle to reveal the picture beneath.

That’s the simple version. Of course, depending upon how much editing needs to be done will depend upon how long it takes to finish your picture. It can be a slow and tedious project, but it is well worth the effort. Click on the picture to see both the originals and edited versions located in my Photo Gallery.

I just finished a landing page and Wordpress blog theme design that was so much fun to work on! Good friends of mine are going to be traveling on an evangelistic team beginning this fall, and they will be holding youth rallies on most weekends in churches all around the country. They wanted a fun site where kids who’ve attended or are going to attend theses Coffee Wars rallies can log look at pictures and video from the week, get updates, have access to more Christian resources, and stay in touch. It’s also designed to help out churches or individuals planning to attend a rally by offering necessary information and downloads to prepare for the event. Because they won’t be officially starting until the fall, there is a lot of information, pictures, pages, and video that will continue to be added as time goes on.

I designed the landing page using Sitegrinder, a Photoshop plugin. The elements of the blog theme were also designed in Photoshop and then completed through Artisteer. There are still a few plugins that need to be uploading, but for the most part the setup and design are complete. I will be creating a personalized Twitter background to match the site as well as an image to use for the site’s facebook page as well.

Please contact me if you are interested in a landing page and blog combo or any other design requests, and I’d be happy to discuss pricing and options with you.

Click on this link to visit The Coffee Wars.

Some good friends of mine were just married in December, and while they had a beautiful pictures taken, Becky wasn’t sure that she wanted to decorate the house with a Christmas theme. So, she asked if I would edit them and change the backgrounds on some of her favorite professional pictures and snapshots. Thankfully she purchased all of the rights to her professional shots. As a note if you are getting married, MAKE SURE TO PURCHASE THE RIGHTS TO YOUR PICTURES!!! That way, you can edit, print, and use them however you like.

Here is a sampling of what I did. I also added full black and white and sepia versions of both edits, too. Please contact me at info@reflectingthedesigner.com if you are interested in professional and affordable photo editing with a quick turn around time.

This is another example of how you can turn a simple snapshot into a portrait style picture with some edits in Photoshop. This took me less than 30 minutes to complete. The beauty of Photoshop is that you don’t have to pay for expensive Photo Shoots or worry about the time or hassle to set up an appointment for family portraits.

While this is an extremely simple example, the possibilities for edits are really endless. You can have different backgrounds, superimposed images, artistic effects, color changes and blending, and you can fix those little issues that need to be fixed. You’ll notice that my beautiful mother got a “trim” of her hair in the edited version since she hadn’t had a chance to get a hair cut before the photo was taken.

A Few Tips and Tricks When Editing in Photoshop

• If you are going to add a different background, make sure that the light is coming from the same direction in the new background as it is in the original photo you are adding to the foreground.
• Make sure to think about the angle that the picture was taken from if you are going to add a scenery background. For example, if a picture of a field or trees was taken from above looking down at an angle, you won’t be able to add in a picture of your subject taken straight at eye level.
• Make sure that the saturation and brightness of the background matches the saturation and brightness of the original photo, or edit the photo to match. Always do this first, even if you are going to turn the photo into a black and white or sepia image.
• Blurring the background is the easiest way to bring out the subject that you want to highlight.
• When you have finished your edits, make sure adjust the canvas size to common print sizes (4×6, 5×7, 8×10).

Please, let me know if you are interested in photo edits no matter how simple or complex. I’d be happy to discuss design options and prices with you, and most edits can be finished and back to you within a couple of days time.