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Quick Tip: Create a Realistic Credit Card in Photoshop

classiclori — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 06:00:16 +0000

In today’s quick tip tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a realistic-looking credit card using Photoshop and Illustrator in just a few short steps. Let’s get started!

Step 1

To speed up the process, we will begin by putting together some basic graphics in Illustrator. Make a 3.5in by 1.9in rounded rectangle, then fill the object with a color or gradient of your choice.

Draw some curvy lines as shown using the Pen Tool. Then go to Object > Blend > Blend > Blend Options > Specific Steps, enter 30 and click OK. Make two different lines with different colors.

Select the line art that you just created and apply a clipping mask using the shape of the credit card. Make sure that the credit card shape is placed on top of your line art and that you’ve duplicated your credit card background as well.

Note: if you are using Illustrator CS5, select the credit card and click the Draw Inside option to Paste (Cmd/Ctrl + V) inside the objects.

Use the Pen Tool to draw the ribbon as shown.

Step 2

We are now finished with Illustrator. Let’s get started by opening Photoshop, creating a new canvas that’s a bit larger than your Illustrator document and then by copying and pasting each element that you created in Illustrator individually. At this stage, you should already have some logos and graphics that you would like to place on the card. If not, go ahead and create some. Add your graphics to the card, as shown. Feel free to use the following fonts in your card as well. Download them here and here.

Step 3

Now it’s time to add your text. Choose the Oval Typeface using #f1efed. Type out some random numbers and a name. Then apply the following layer styles.

Step 4

Now it’s starting to look more like a credit card, let’s add some shadows to make it look more realistic. Duplicate each layer, change the font’s color to black and turn off the Layer Styles, this will give us the base shadow. Now move the shadow numbers about 3-5 pixels to the right and 3 pixels down (do the same with the name as well), now go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur, then type in Angle: -34 and Distance: 10px; set the Layer Blend to Multiply and 50% Opacity. For final touches of the front side, go ahead and look at your reference credit card and add an expiration date wherever you want it placed and you will be done with the front side, make a new folder and drop all the layers inside and name it FRONT.

Step 5

Now, let’s work on the backside of the credit card. Duplicate the credit card base, move the layer to the FRONT folder, then Right Click on the layer and rasterize, make a selection of it and fill it up with a color you used on the front side (I used the bright red on the top left of the credit card’s front side). Note: don’t use gradients for the back.

Go to the FRONT folder, duplicate the text layers that you used Layer Styles (credit card numbers, name and expiration date in my case) on and drag them to the BACK folder, then flip them Horizontally and change the color of the text to the same as the credit card’s back.

Now we need to change the Layer Styles of the text layers to make them look as if they were stamped and look as the reference credit card, Double Click on the layer and change the values as shown below, do the same for the other layers.

Step 6

Now the credit card looks like your reference, go ahead and arrange the rest of the elements you made for the back side of the credit card.

Some elements like the signature rectangle can be done in Photoshop, if you have a logo of your own you can rotate it 45 degrees and duplicate several times and make a pattern, then select each one and change the color of it with Hue and Saturation (Cmd/Ctrl + U), then Merge them all together, in another layer make a rectangle the size you want for the signature and fill it with white, make a selection of rectangle > select the pattern layer and click (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + I) to inverse the selection and Erase, then merge both layers.

To make the signature make another layer, select a hard black brush and make a random signature. Finally, add the security codes.

Step 7

If you like, you could end the tutorial here but now we are going to add some perspective to the card. Duplicate each folder, then Right Click on the group folder and select Merge Group, do the same for each folder. Now we have 2 layers, one of the front and one for the back of the credit card, select both layers and Click Cmd/Ctrl + T to transform and make them smaller, then rotate a little and Right Click to select Perspective and transform as desired.

Step 8

Select a layer of the credit card (no matter if it’s front or back) and duplicate, make a selection of it and fill it with a light grey, then move it about 2px to the right. To make the shadow of the card, Duplicate the credit card and make a selection of it and fill it with black, then Click Cmd/Ctrl + T to transform > Right click and select Distort and transform as desired; Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > 10 px radius; set the Layer Blend to Multiply at 30% Opacity.

To make the Reflection, Duplicate both credit card layers, select both layers and flip them vertically (Cmd + T > Right Click > Flip Vertical) and arrange them on the tip of the credit card; select a Soft Eraser Brush with 30% Opacity and erase each layer to make the reflection.

Step 9

Let’s make some lights and shadows, make a selection of the credit card, then make a new layer, select a white soft brush, Normal Mode at 20% Opacity and on the top left corner add some light, then change color to black and add some shadows on the lower right corner.

Final Image

Make a background and you are done! To make images of each side of the credit card just turn off the front side layer, remember to turn on or off the corresponding reflection layer as well; you can use this tutorial to make a credit card icon; remember that you can make different color credit cards by playing with Hue and Saturation.

More Than 620 Bokeh Background Textures

classiclori — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:51:55 +0000

As bokeh is more than often very pleasing to the eye, photographers tend to purposely produce bokeh in their images, and sometimes deliberately take out-of-focus shots to take images that show nothing other than bokeh. Designers have picked up on this, and over the years there has been a huge increase of bokeh being used in graphic, print, and web design. This round-up consists of a whopping 626 textures, both free (the majority) and premium, which you can use to spice up your photos, as backgrounds for your latest web design, and, as most of them are high resolution, even in your print design projects.

Free Bokeh Textures

Take a look at these incredible free bokeh textures available on the web.

Five Colourful Bokeh Textures (5 Textures)

Out of Focus: 30 Free Bokeh Textures (30 Textures)

Colored Grungy Bokeh Textures (5 Textures)

Raining Light Bokeh Pack (11 Textures)

Crazy Firework Bokeh Stock (1 Texture)

Heart Bokeh Textures (3 Textures)

Bokeh Collection (4 Textures)

Bokeh 2 (1 Texture)

Bokeh Textures Pack (10 Textures)

Bokeh Texture 3 (1 Texture)

High Resolution Bokeh Texture (5 Textures)

Bokeh Texture Pack 001 (20 Textures)

Rainy Night Street Light Bokeh (1 Texture)

Grungy Bokeh Pack (6 Textures)

Bokeh Collection II (5 Textures)

Bokeh Stock Images (11 Textures)

Glitter Bokeh Texture Pack (33 Textures)

Bokeh Texture Pack 002 (10 Textures)

Bokeh Pack 2 (27 Textures)

Regularjane’s Bokeh Textures (11 Textures)

Christmas Bokeh Stock Pack (15 Textures)

Bokeh Super Pack (14 Textures)

Bokeh Pack 5 (22 Textures)

Bokeh Texture Pack 003 (14 Textures)

Bokeh Pack 6 (30 Textures)

My First Bokeh (1 Texture)

Bokeh Texture Pack 004 (7 Textures)

Bokeh Pack 3 (39 Textures)

Royale Bokeh (4 Textures)

Lensbabie Bokeh Stock 2 (14 Textures)

Bokeh Texture (1 Texture)

Lensbabie Bokeh Madness Stock (13 Textures)

Bokeh Textures (5 Textures)

Bokeh Textures (10 Textures)

Freaky Distorted Bokeh (5 Textures)

Night Bokeh (4 Textures)

Color Bokeh Textures Pack (4 Textures)

Bokeh Pack 4 (20 Textures)

Bokeh Bubbles Icon Textures (24 Textures)

Grungy Abstract Bokeh Textures (3 Textures)

Heart Bokeh Pack (6 Textures)

Water Bokeh Stock (9 Textures)

Natural Bokeh (4 Textures)

Bokeh VII (3 Textures)

Premium Bokeh Textures

Take a look at these incredible premium bokeh textures available on the web.

Circle of Bokeh (1 Texture, PSD Included – $3)

Light Bokeh Abstract Background (14 Textures/Backgrounds, PSD Included – $4)

Bokeh Effect Background (10 Textures/Backgrounds, PSD Included – $3)

60 Bokeh Abstracts (60 Textures – $5)

7 Bokeh Textures (7 Textures – $6)

Bokeh Backgrounds (4 Textures – $3)

8 Bokeh Effect Backgrounds (8 Textures/Backgrounds, PSD Included – $4)

44+ Mosaic Bokeh with Pluses (44+ Textures/Backgrounds, PSD Included – $5)

8 Colorful Abstract Backgrounds (8 Textures/Backgrounds – $8)

40 Quality Photoshop UI Design Tutorials

classiclori — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:48:06 +0000

Want to improve your interface design skills? If so, then check out this group of Photoshop tutorials. There are loads of tuts here to get started with basic elements and work your way up to full interface designs, which integrate numerous custom elements. If you’re looking to get started with Photoshop UI design or build these skills, then jump into these tutorials right now!

1. Creating a Knob in Photoshop

2. How to Make a Menu Interface for a Fantasy Themed iPhone Game

3. Create a Promotional iPhone App Site in Photoshop

4. How to Create a Slick and Clean Button in Photoshop

5. Simple Button

6. How to Create a Detailed Audio Player in Photoshop

7. Create an Apple IPhone case from scratch

8. iPhone Style Icon Tutorial

9. Create the Glass Shelf Dock from Leopard OS in Photoshop

10. Build a Slick Rich User Interface in Photoshop

11. Loading Interface

12. Make a Web Interface with Car Images

13. Zoom Player Design Skin

14. Volkswagen Inspired Navigation

15. MP3 Player Interface Design

16. Blackberry Fruit phone

17. Interface Navigation Tutorial

18. Create a Mac Style Interface Button in Photoshop

19. Nokia 5300 Cell phone interface

20. Photoshop Tutorial: Audio Interface

21. High-Detailed Plastic Navigation Bar

22. Aqua Interface

23. Nav Bar Interface Tutorial

24. Content Box

25. Interface or Skin Tutorial

26. How To Create a Stunning Vista Inspired Menu

27. Create a Web App Admin User Interface in Photoshop

28. Creating Inset Buttons for Interfaces

29. Modern Web Layout

30. Creating Smooth Metal for Interface Design

31. Create a Zune MP3 Player

32. Interface Orbs

33. Design Your iPhone Widgets

34. RCA Lyra X3030 portable media player

35. Video Player Skin

36. Designing a Black Audio Player Interface

37. MP3 Player Interface

38. Design Mico Buttons

39. VCarbon Style Icons and Buttons

40. Create a Speed Gauge and Watch Icon in Photoshop

Create a Professional Web 2.0 Layout

classiclori — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:22:59 +0000

In this Photoshop tutorial we’re going to learn how to create a web 2.0 layout, As we go through the tutorial we’ll deal with so many Photoshop techniques. Seems kind of long? that’s because it’s very detailed. I assure you’ll find easy to follow and to get done, just give it a try!

Final Image Preview

Take a look at what we’ll be creating together, Click the image to enlarge. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month.

Tutorial Details

Program: Adobe Photoshop
Version: CS4
Difficulty: Intermediate
Estimated Completion Time: About two hours

Step 1

To keep everything aligned we’re going to use 960s Grid System (Get it from here) once downloaded open up the file “960_grid_24_col.psd”.
We’ll start by creating layer from background, right-click on the layer “Background”, then choose Layer From Background. and call it “bg”.

Step 2

As we’ll use guides so much, we need to view our Rulers. In order to do that go to View > Rulers.

Step 3

We need to set lower borders for the header area, therefore we’ll drag a new horizontal guide after 100px. go to View > New Guide, Position: 100.

Step 4

Let’s create our header. we’ll start by creating a selection of 1020×100px. then click Shift+Backspace to fill it (with any color just for now).

Give it a Gradient Overlay according to the following image:

Now call this layer: “header_bg”.

Step 5

Write your Web site title with these settings:

Font Family: Rockwell (get it from here)
Font size: 30px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: Won’t matter, cause we’re gonna give it a Gradient Overlay

Now add a Gradient Overlay to your text with the following settings:

To align your Web site title with the header background; Select your title layer and “header_bg” layer then click on Align vertical centers.

Step 6

Write your navigation text with these settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 20px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #ffffff

Create a rounded rectangle which will represent a hovered link. it should be about 65×35px size – 5px radius, (fill it with any color for now).

Give it a Stroke and Gradient Overlay according to the following image:

Before we move to the next step, just make sure to keep your layers well-organized, Here’s how mine looks!

Step 7

It’s time to create the featured designs area. we’ll start by setting our lower borders by adding a new horizontal guide after 430px.

Create a selection of 1020×430px as a background for the featured designs area. and fill it with any color.

Then give it a Gradient Overlay with the following settings:

Now let’s create the glaze effect! create a selection of 1020×120px, fill it with any color.

And then add a Gradient Overlay. use the image below for reference.

Now reduce this layer opacity to 40%

Step 8

Let’s add some touches! with the Single Row Marquee Tool create a 1px selection and align it like the following:

Set your foreground color to #acd86e then click on Shift+Backspace to fill it; make sure to use foreground color as a filling option.

I guarantee you’ll have perfect pixel details

We’re done creating the background elements. so make sure to give them ideal names, organize them, and group them together.

Step 9

Let us be more accurate! drag two new guides according to the following image

Write some welcoming words with these settings:

Font Family: Rockwell
Font size: 40px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Sharp
Color: #f4f4f4

I personally have written: “Here’s our brand new work. Oops Welcome!” but we need to emphasize the word “Welcome!” in somehow. so basically we’ll give it a Gradient Overlay. follow up with the image

Now drag two new horizontal guides according to the following image

Before we say goodbye to this step, just make sure to organize your text layers.

Step 10

Start by creating a selection of 250×150px (fill it with any color), this will be our image holder.

Call this layer “pic_holder” and try aligning it like the image above.

And give it a Stroke

Let’s add an image of a featured design, to do so go to File > Place and select an image. call its layer “pic”, and make sure to put it right above the layer “pic_holder”.

Right-click on “pic” layer and choose Create Clipping Mask.

Step 11

To create our shadow, we’ll start by duplicating the two layers “pic” and “pic_holder”.

While having the two duplicated layers selected, go to Edit > Free Transform, and adjust the height to: -100.0%

While we’re still selecting the two duplicated layers right-click on them and choose Convert to Smart Object; call this layer “shadow”. and make sure to place it at the bottom.

Select “shadow” layer then click on Add layer mask (at the bottom of the layers panel)

Choose the Gradient Tool (G) and with a black, white linear gradient drag from down to top.

You should have something like this!

Step 12

We need to add a description to our image. so we’ll create a selection of 240×25px, and fill it with this color value: #1a1919, This will work as the description background.

Write some description with these character settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 15px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: None
Color: #82aa48

Make sure to keep your document tidy!

Step 13

Make another copy of the featured design image and align it to the right.

We’ll make the center image a bit bigger, so make a selection of 340×200px, align it like the following, and fill it with any color.

We’ll also give it a Stroke. use the following image for reference

And here’s what we’ve got!

Make sure to organize your layers and to group them. I personally have created three separate groups. here’s how they look

Step 14

Let’s create our sliding button! we’ll start by creating an Ellipse of 50×50px using the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M), and filling it with any color.

Now give it some layer styles according to the following image

With the Custom Shape Tool (U) create an arrow and give it the following layer styles

You should have something like this

Don’t forget to align your button according to the following image

Make another copy of the arrow and align it to the right

Step 15

Let’s work on the content area. start by creating a selection of 1020×815px

Click Shift+Backspace to fill your selection with this color: #e8e8e8

With the Single Row Marquee Tool (M) create a 1px selection, place it like the following image, and fill it with white (#ffffff).

Now you’re having perfect pixel details!

Step 16

We need to set upper borders to our content area. therefore we’re going to drag a new horizontal guide after 50px.
Download this Icon set: Basic Set – Pixel Mixer and place of them like the following.

Drag a new horizontal guide at the bottom of the icon, leave 20px then drag a new one.
Now write some heading with these settings:

Font Family: Rockwell
Font size: 29px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Sharp
Color: #81aa48

Drag yet another two guides according to the following image

Write some text with these settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 15px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: None
Color: #2f3235

Drag more three guides according to the following image

Step 17

It’s time to create our “read more” button. With the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) create a rectangle of 100×30px and 5px radius. and fill it with any color just for now.

Give this rectangle some layer styles. use the image below for reference.

With the Ellipse Tool (U) create an ellipse of 15×15px and fill it with this color value: #4d4d4d.
To align it correctly select its layer and the rectangle’s layer then click Align vertical centers while having both layers selected.

Type “+”, fill it with white (#ffffff) and place it like this

Write the word “read more” with the following character settings:

Font Family: Tahoma (get it from here)
Font size: 12px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: None
Color: #ffffff

Give it a drop shadow. use the image below for reference

Step 18

To create a vertical separating line, With the Line Tool (U) create two vertical lines next to each. and fill them with these values: #ffffff – #b3b3b3.

Align your line like the following image

Don’t forget to organize your layers. take a look at mine!

Step 19

Make three copies of what we’ve created in the previous two steps. and have something like this!

Step 20

Let’s create our separator.
Drag a new horizontal guide after 50px

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) create a selection like the one below.

Set your foreground color to black (#000000) then click Shift+Backspace to fill your selection. call this layer “separator_bg”.

To make it looks blurry, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur – radius: 3px.

While selecting “separator_bg” layer selected, create a selection like the one below then hit delete.

Click on Add layer mask icon. and set your gradient editor to black, white, black.

With the Gradient Tool (G) drag with a linear gradient according to the following image.

Reduce the layer Opacity to 50%

With the Line Tool (U) create two horizontal lines on top of each other and place them right above the separator.
Fill them with #b3b3b3 – #ffffff and add the same layer mask to them.

Step 21

We’ll start working on our lower content area, by dragging a new guide after 50px.

Add a title with these character settings:

Font Family: Rockwell
Font size: 30px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #81aa48

Drag two new horizontal guides according to the following image.

Write some text with these character settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 14px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: None
Color: #505150

Drag a new guide after 160px as a lower border for the content area.

Step 22

Write another title and text using the same character settings we’ve used in the previous step.

Type a quotation mark on your keyboard, with these character settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 200px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #505150

And reduce its layer’s Opacity to 50%

Write a word of wise or quote of yours with these character settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 14px
Font weight: Italic
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #81aa48

Step 23

In order to create a vertical separating line, create two vertical lines next to each other, and fill them with these values: #ffffff – #b3b3b3.

Make sure to keep your layer organized, Here’s how I organized them.

Step 24

Write yet another title like the ones on the left (Try writing something that represents the team, for example I’ve written “Our Team”).

Using the Rectangle Tool (U) create a 90×90px rectangle, and fill it with any color. call this layer “photo1_holder”
This will work as a holder for a photo of a team member. Now give it a Stroke. Use the image below for reference.

Place a photo of a member and call its layer “photo1″. Make sure that the layer “photo1″ is right above “photo1_holder” layer. then right-click on “photo1″ layer and choose Create clipping mask. You should come up with something like below!

Step 25

Write some text about the member, using these character settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 14px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #7ba344

We’ll create the social media icons ourselves! let’s start with Twitter, Type “t” letter with these character settings:

Font Family: Pico-Black (get it from here)
Font size: 30px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #2fcfff

Then Give it a Stroke according to the following image.

Let’s create the LinkedIn one! Type “in” word with these character settings:

Font Family: Myriad Pro (get it from here)
Font size: 30px
Font weight: Bold
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #0081ac

Facebook!? Type “f” letter with these character settings:

Font Family: Klavika (get it from here)
Font size: 30px
Font weight: Bold
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #395796

Step 26

Create another copy of the member photo. while selecting the photo layer, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White.
Make sure to check “Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask”

Type the same text, social media letters we’ve written before using the same character settings, but give them all this color value: #505150.

So obviously the member will look gray when it’s not hovered!

Make two copies and align them this way

To make sure they’re well-aligned, make four separate groups each one of them contains a member’s content, and click on Distribute left edges in the control bar while having the four groups selected.

I’ve organized my layers, you?

Step 27

Before we start working on the social media links area, we need to set some borders, that’s why we’ll drag two new guides according to the following image!

Create a selection of about 940×70px and align it like the image below.

Fill it with any color, and then give it a Gradient Overlay. use the image below for reference.

Create a rectangle of 70×45px. use the image below to align it and to give it some layer styles. call this layer “tw_bg”

Hide the layer “tw_bg” to work freely.
Create another rectangle of 10×43px, and go to Edit > Transform Path > Skew. adjust these options in the control bar:

X: 40px
Y: 1253px
V: -39

Call this layer “effect” and make “tw_bg” layer visible again.

Copy layer style from “tw_bg” layer and paste it into the layer “effect”.

Write “t” letter with these character settings:

Font Family: Pico-Black
Font size: 35px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: Won’t matter cause we’re gonna add a Gradient Overlay

Also give it some layer styles according to the following image.

Step 28

Repeat step 20 to create another separator or even copy it. then place it this way:

We need to cut the right part of the rectangle, eh!? to do that select “tw_bg” layer and click on Add layer mask.
Make a selection over the right part (that we need to cut) of the rectangle, set your foreground color to black (#000000) then click Shift+Backspace to fill it.

Step 29

Write some text – which is actually should be a Tweet – with these character settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 15px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #222222

To align the text well, while having the text layer and the green bar layer selected, click on Align vertical centers.

Step 30

Repeat step 27 to create something like in the image below. Also create a rectangle, fill it with #334814 and reduce its layer Opacity to 40%.

Give the big rectangle some layer styles according to the following image

Now fill the skewed rectangle with a darker color of this value: #2a6788

Write “t” letter with these character settings:

Font Family: Pico-Black
Font size: 35px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: #2fcfff

And give it a Stroke. use the image below for reference

Make sure to organize your layers and group them together.

Step 31

Make another copy of the Twitter icon, change the Color Overlay (for the big rectangle) to: #0080ab, and fill the skewed rectangle with this color value: #00526d.

Write the word “in” with these character settings:

Font Family: Myriad Pro
Font size: 35px
Font weight: Bold
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: white (#ffffff)

Create a third copy of the Twitter or LinkedIn icon, change the Color Overlay (for the big rectangle) to: #395796, and fill the skewed rectangle with this color value: #263e6f.

Write “f” letter with these character settings:

Font Family: Klavika
Font size: 35px
Font weight: Bold
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: white (#ffffff)

Make a last copy, change the Color Overlay (for the big rectangle) to: #e8e8e8, and fill the skewed rectangle with this color value: #cdcdcd.

Write the word “fr” with these character settings:

Font Family: Frutiger Black (get it from here
Font size: 35px
Font weight: Bold
Anti-aliasing setting: Smooth
Color: f: #0079d2 – r: #ff3093

Put each of the icons in a separate group, and while selection the four of them click on Distribute left edges .

Step 32

Keep it goin’! only the footer left. Create a selection of 1020×460px and fill it with any color for now.

Apply a Gradient Overlay to it. use the image below for reference.

You should have a nice shadow!

with the Single Row Marquee Tool (M) create a 1px selection and fill it with white (#ffffff).

Step 33

Drag two new horizontal guides according to the following image.

Write a title with these character settings:

Font Family: Rockwell
Font size: 30px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: Sharp
Color: #7ea547

Write a sub-title with these character settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 15px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: None
Color: #d3d3d3

Using the Line Tool (U) create two horizontal lines on top of each other, and fill them with these color values: #151515 – #2f2f2f.

Align it this way.

Step 34

Drag two new horizontal guides according to the following image.

With the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) create two rectangles of 210×25px – 5px radius, fill them with: #141313 and give them an Inner Shadow.

Write some text inside the two rectangles with these character settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 15px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: None
Color: #7ea547

Create another rectangle like the ones above, but this time its height will be: 110px. Also write some text inside it with the same character settings above.
Make a copy of the button we’ve created in step 17. and align it like the following image

Step 35

Write another title like the one on the left.

Write some text. use the image below for reference.

Make two copies of what you’ve done.

Step 36

Fill the right part with a third title and some text.

Now your footer should look like this.

Step 37

We’re almost there! drag a new horizontal guide after 50px.

Create two horizontal lines on top of each other, and fill them with these color values: #181818 – #2f2f2f.

Write some copyright text with these character settings:

Font Family: Arial
Font size: 15px
Font weight: Regular
Anti-aliasing setting: None
Color: white (#ffffff) – #82aa48

With the same character settings write a sub-navigation.

Make sure to organize your layers and group them together. Here’s how mine looks!

Conclusion

There we have it! we’ve created a professional-looking web 2.0 layout. As you can see the techniques used here are simple. but they get nice results.

I really have tried to explain every single thing carefully. However, if you’ve faced any problems please don’t hesitate to ask for help, just drop a comment and I’ll do my best to help.

Manipulating the Color of an Automobile in Photoshop

classiclori — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:36:33 +0000

I have a client who’s automotive collection I shoot from time to time. He collects and restores vintage Volkswagen busses and pickups. All of his collection so far has been authentic restorations, so the color of the vehicle is always exactly what it was from the factory. But he had been telling me about his next project which would be “street modified”, not aiming for the traditional stock look. He had no idea what different colors would look like on his vehicle and didn’t want to make a mistake on an $8,000 paint job.

I said; “Really? I have a solution”. He agreed to my Photoshop proposal, and I asked him to email through decent images of the car colors he wanted. He also sent me a line drawing of his vehicle, thinking I was just going to color it in. I had something way better in store!

Author: Peter Tellone

I am a freelance Photographer, Photographic Writer and Author based in Southern California. I like to do what I love and love to have fun doing it, otherwise it is not worth doing. My website: http://groundupphotos.com/

The Final Effect

Introduction

There are many ways to change color in Photoshop. You could use the Color Replacement tool (located under the Brush Tool) or you could use the menu item Color Replace. But none of those would give me the flexibility I needed for this project. I couldn’t just pick colors at random even if he said “I want a yellow color”. With automotive colors we needed an absolute that the paint shop mixing the paint would know exactly the color we wanted. With this in mind, I needed to sample actual car colors available and duplicate them. There was only one way I knew to do that, and this is the method we’ll be investigating in the tutorial.

The example here relates to an automobiles, but the same technique can be used on many applications, Change the color of a client’s dress, change the paint color of a house before you paint it. Just about anything you can think of.

Step 1

The main processes we are going to be using in Photoshop are: Layers, Layer Masks, Layer Blend Modes and Layer Opacity and Fill. If you aren’t used to using layers and layer masks in Photoshop, it is one thing you should get familiar with. Here are two hints to begin with that are crucial with Layer Masks: Remember that “Black Reveals” (the layer below) and “White Conceals”. Also remember your X key on the keyboard. That is a keyboard short cut for switching between your foreground and background color swatches. (Which should be set to Black and White)

Open your subject image you want to change the color on, In this case we are using one of his stock Volkswagen Double Cab Pickups

The first thing I need to make is a Layer mask; this allows only the parts of the image I want the new color applied to be defined. (And yes there are a million and one ways to make a layer mask and if you have a better way, use it.) I like the paint by hand method for this)

I will start by adding a new Color Fill layer, which I can do from the menu bar at Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color or by clicking the Black/White Cookie symbol on the Layers Palette. At this point it doesn’t matter what color – just one that contrasts with your subject so you can see where you want to keep the lines. But of course this is a big solid color over your image – so how can you see where you want to paint out? Go over to your layer palette and reduce the opacity to about 50%. This will allow you to see your subject below.

Grab a large black soft edge brush and take away the major areas you don’t want the new color applied to, then progressively use smaller brushes and harder tips till you get as exact a mask as you can. Hitting your X Key and switching back and forth between Black and White to correct any area you may gave gone over a line. Remember that the success of this will depend on how good a job you do of masking the image. Just like if you were painting a car, you want to mask off the chrome and not paint it.

When you are done, your mask will look something like this (I hid the background layer)

Step 2

Now it is time to apply color to the image, so go back to your layers palette and bring the opacity back to 100%

I know what you’re thinking: “that looks terrible, it’s just a solid color!” You’re completely correct, but we’ll rectify this in the next stage. Go back to your layer palette and this time to the layer blend mode and drop down the list. Different modes will work better depending on what base color car you have, but for this example we are going to try “Color Burn”.

There’s an immediate, obvious improvement. All the detail, reflections and shadows have come back to the image.

Step 3

Now I want to make it the color I need it to be. So I will open up the image of the car color I want to copy, in this case Corvette Atomic Orange and have that image open along side of this one.

Now, with the Volkswagen shot active, on the layer palette click on the color swatch. This will bring up the color palette but will also make a color picker eyedropper available. Move that Eyedropper over to the Corvette and start sampling areas of the Corvette, You will have to try a few different areas because as we know there is not one color but actually many shades of color in an object. Keep picking until you find one area that makes the Volkswagen look like the Corvette in color.

Note: You don’t have to sample a color, if you are not trying to match a color you can just open the color palette and choose any color you want

And there you have it: our previously off-white Volkswagen is now proudly painted in “Corvette Atomic Orange”!

Save your image as a .psd or .tiff and preserve the layers so that later on you can go back and change the color easily. We ended up with about 8 different color schemes. He wanted a Monotone paint scheme so the bumpers, emblems and wheels are all the same color. But more on this later.

Step 4

If you remember, we used the Color Burn blend mode which worked great in this instance with an off-white object. But as you will find out, the color underneath has a definite influence on how the color above looks. So Color Burn may work excellently with off-white or gray objects but what about other colors?

In this instance I was starting with a Red Ford GT that has a profound influence on the final color

I want to make it Saturn Safari Tan and when I sampled that color it just turned it a nice shade of Pink. I then went through all the modes and none were quite right. But “Color” mode got me into the right color tone, just about 20 shades too dark.

So I had to get creative here. What I did was add a Levels Adjustment layer (Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Levels) and duplicated the layer mask on this layer so that the adjustment only applied to the paint, I held down ctrl + alt and just dragged the mask to the layer above on the layer palette. An adjustment with the midtone slider brought the image to right where I wanted the color to be.

Hint: Using an adjustment layer will be the best way to get purer black or white as a color, otherwise you end up with just a mid-tone Gray.

When working with a Silver Car, “Multiply” mode worked great to make any color look Metallic or Candy Apple effect.

Here, I wanted the red to be a solid red not a metallic looking red, so I solved that by adding a white color layer in between the silver and the red.

The possibilities are endless, and you can experiment with some fairly shocking colors!

In this instance I took a Black Cadillac, turned it White using Linear Dodge blend mode added a Levels adjustment layer to get the white how I wanted it. I then changed the blend mode on the Levels layer to Linear Burn to achieve this Chrome look.

So as you can see, you can make this as simple or as outrageous as you want and you may have to do some experimenting to achieve the perfect adjustment. Try different blend modes, and experiment with the fill and opacity amounts till you get just what you want.

My client was very happy. Even though he had to pay for about 4 hours of edit time (always charge for edit time – don’t give it away!) he knew exactly what he wanted before the restoration project started and saved himself thousands in mistaken color or accessory choices.

And what did he end up choosing? Well, not what we started with, He got rid of the Monotone, and went with a two tone with Chrome Bumpers (I added a new layer, then used Filters > Sketch > Chrome and again masked it just to the bumpers and emblem). Here is his final concept vehicle, a mockup of which he can see it a year before the vehicle will actually be completed!

Edit: After I wrote this, he changed his mind again. Good thing we didn’t use real paint!