PHOTOSHOP Star bursts If you want star bursts to highlight an event (for a brochure) or a Web site, open Pho- toshop. Load your image or create a new one. Select Filter > Render > Lens Flare from the menu. Select Brightness and Flare type. Place the cross-hair on the image and click O K. This effect looks great when combined with neon glows. The drop shadow If the Layers option in Photoshop intimi- dates you, this exercise will help you get familiar with the tool. Apply cool shadow effects to your words and images using this option. First create a new image and a new layer (shape). Select the text marquee tool and type the text you want. Fill it with any colour or texture. Without deselecting your marquee selection, create a new layer (shadow). Fill it with the colour you want. Now drag the layer-shadow below the layer-shape so the shadow appears behind your text. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur (radius 4.7). Select the Move tool and move the shadow to wherever you want it to be (using the keyboard arrows keys). Finally, move it 4 pixels to the right and 2 pixels down. X-Files unveiled If you want to impress your friends by creating the X-Files logo yourself, follow these steps. Create a new image (7 cm x 7 cm). Click on Layer > New Layer and set background colour to black. Click on the Type marquee tool and type ‘X’. Use a normal font (Times Roman and Filter > Distort > Ripple ). Set the fore- ground colour to Green. Press [Alt] + [Del ] keys simultaneously to fill ‘X’ with green. You can try this on different text to get the final effect. Alternatively, you can try using the Magic Wand tool to fill the text with an appropriate colour. Magnifying Glass With the magnifier tool selected, click-and- drag marquees a rectangle. The current window is maximised and the marked section is magnified to fit. Double-click on the magnifier to reset to the default value of 1:1. The maximum magnifica- tion is 16:1. Note that the Magnifier tool will retain the window dimensions and zoom within those boundaries, whereas the Zoom In/Out function under Win- dow will actually change the window dimensions as well as the zoom status. Layer effects This feature of Photoshop facili- tates adding shadows, glows, bevels, and embossing to text or to any other item that resides on a layer. Every time a change is made to a layer, the effects are automatically updated. For example, if you move the text, the shadow associated with it also moves.This feature is available in Photoshop 5.Control When moving selections (marqueed, ellipse, lassoed...) use the [Shift ] key to constrain the movement. For example, selecting an area and moving it away with key is depressed, the dragging is constrained to be exactly hori- zontal or vertical or at an angle of 45 degrees. This action works even if the [Shift ] key is pressed after the dragging is already underway. Example: Move text horizontally only. This trick is particularly good with the blend tool and can be used to create gradients that are truly vertical/horizontal.

Add shadows and colour Old image files can be made to look new again. In this example, not only has the shadow been reduced, the colours have been changed and enhanced. Create a duplicate of your image by clicking Image Duplicate and set the mode to greyscale. Next, select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur , and blur the image such that all details are lost (Radius value between 3 and 6 pix- els). Click the original image to bring up the window, then choose Select > Load Selection , and use the greyscale copy as your selection. Set the background channel to Black, check the Invert box, and click O K. After loading the selection, you should see a dotted line around the shadow areas. You can deselect the small areas outside the figure with the Lasso tool while holding down the [Alt] key. Now choose Edit > Fill . Under Con-tents , select 50% grey. Under Opacity , enter 100%. Under Mode, select Color Dodge, then click O K. The resulting image should have the shadows reduced. Buttons with a layered look To create bevelled buttons, open a new image in Photoshop and create a new Layer (Outside). Select the Marquee tool for a rectangular or circular button. Next, choose lighter and darker tones of the same colour. Select the gradient tool, click the top-left corner of your marquee selection and drag to the bottom-right. Create a new layer (Inside ). Click Select > Modify > Contract and then on Smooth. (If you are working with a rec- tangular shape don’t smooth the selec- tion.) Select the Gradient tool and repeat the above step but start at the bottom- right and drag to the top-left of your selection. Press [Ctrl] + [D] to deselect. For a smoother effect, click Filter > Blur > Gaussian blur on the Inside layer. History in action If you haven’t been making active use of the History palette, you don’t know what you are missing. This palette maintains a list of all the recent actions, allowing you to backtrack to any previous stage in your image-editing process. You can also take snapshots of your project on the way. When using this palette, you can either delete a step or undo these steps. However, you cannot return to a step and change its parameters. The History brush can also be used to paint the contents of a prior version of the image on to the latest version. For example you can apply a Gaussian Blur to your entire image, remove it and then use the History Brush to paint the Blur on some areas of the image. Nudging For small-sized-image-adjustments, use the arrow keys—these can help you correct minute errors since one pixel is moved at a time. For fixing small patch- ups on your image: use the rubber stamp cloner, hold down the [Alt] key and find a good area to steal from and position it, then use the arrow keys again. Control When moving selections (marqueed, ellipse, lassoed...) use the [Shift ] key to constrain the movement. For example, selecting an area and moving it away with key is depressed, the dragging is constrained to be exactly hori- zontal or vertical or at an angle of 45 degrees. This action works even if the [Shift ] key is pressed after the dragging is already underway. Example: Move text horizontally only. This trick is particularly good with the blend tool and can be used to create gradients that are truly vertical/horizontal.