Top Six Uses for Adobe Photoshop
By | April 8, 2008
The Adobe Photoshop program has so many uses; it is nearly impossible to pick favorites. Everyone who uses the program has their own favorite set of uses, because everyone uses the software program as their own objectives for using it.
Photoshop was first developed as software to design and edit images that were to be printed. It allows users to edit images several times over and save them repeatedly without losing any quality, so they were of a high enough standard to print. This use is still probably the most common, although recently, the Adobe Photoshop brand has branched out to include more applications that allow users to edit film and create professional quality DVDs.
The number one use of Photoshop is editing photos. Everyone has heard people claim that the reason celebrities always look so fabulous is because magazines make liberal use of Photoshop editing! But Photoshop is not just for airbrushing. It has a wide variety of uses in editing photographs, from fixing flaws, like red eyes or blurs, to cropping and refocusing photos. It is possible to crop something from one photo and add it to another, or use the color tools in Photoshop to brighten up a dull picture. Photoshop has revolutionized photography for professionals and amateurs alike; many photographers can hardly remember life without it.
A second popular use for Photoshop is creating graphics for web sites. Designers are limited only by their own imaginations. Photoshop allows designers to incorporate photos, clip art, and vectors and images of their own creation they draw using the pen tool to create the graphic that they have in mind. Because Photoshop uses so many file formats, designers can save their designs in files specifically suited to their task, be it web design or printing.
Graphic designing for print media purposes is a third common use for Photoshop. This can have a number of applications, from magazine and newspaper layout to designing images to be printed on items like mugs, buttons, shirts, or almost anything. Photoshop allows users to take an image and bend it to see what it will look like on the scale of and in the shape of the item it will be printed on, and then edit it accordingly. This tool is invaluable to magazine designers as they lay out text and images together and to clothing designers who want to see how images work on their items.
A fourth popular use for Photoshop is collaborations. Because you can save files numerous times without losing quality, and because the file formats are compatible on nearly every operating system, Photoshop users of all sorts can collaborate with co-workers all over the world. And the collaborations are not all about work, either. A popular game has grown out of Photoshop technology called Photoshop Tennis, in which two designers send an image back and forth to each other, each making a change each time, for a pre-set number of rounds. At the end of the game, an independent judge declares who made the most valuable contributions.
A fifth use for Photoshop is sharing digital photos. Photoshop allows users to download right from their digital cameras to the program and make large batch alterations, and then save these photos in compressed files so they are easy to share.
A sixth important, if specialized, use of Photoshop is creating 3D animation. Pixar format is supported by Photoshop and has been used to create many Disney movies, like “Toy Story.” Though every Photoshop designer does not use this feature, it has made an important impact our culture.
The Adobe Photoshop program has so many uses; it is nearly impossible to pick favorites. Everyone who uses the program has their own favorite set of uses, because everyone uses the software program as their own objectives for using it.
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Fantastic free icons for you to use.
By | April 2, 2008
Creating great icons is a real skill and Kearone of http://www.websiteicons.net/ has a great range of fantastic icons as you can see from the above example.
Here are a couple more:
You can get hundreds more here
Yep free icons from Ian Main
Go on, download em. I dare you!
Here’s the deal, they have been sitting here on my desktop for quite some time which is no good to anyone is it. Originally they were designed to make a quick buck and see if I was up to the job. They were inspired from Dan’s awesome set, Overcast and after learning from his The Anatomy of an Icon tutorial I had to give it a go. I suggest if you want a top quality set of greyscale icons head over to Simplebits and buy yourself a set from a pro.
What do you get?
Greyscale is a set of 40 greyscale icons which each fit into a 34 x 34 pixel area.
* 1 flat file gif containing all 40 icons
* 1 flat file png containing all 40 icons (All colours intact)
* 40 individual gif files
* The right to do what you like with them - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Australia
enjoy
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101 Transparent Pro Business Images …
By | March 29, 2008
Finding good quality images for you your web projects can be difficult. In this package of 101 Transparent Pro Business Images you get enough images to design great looking ebooks, header graphics and add professional looking images to your website.
Download your full size sample here just click on the image and right click to save..
Here is a small sample of what you receive:
Only $17.95
for 101 professional Transparent Images
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Comparison of Free PDF Software
By | March 27, 2008
This section will review some of the free PDF convertors and readers currently available and look at whether they offer any accessibility benefits for users.
Convertors
A document created using Microsoft? Word, structured using the inbuilt styles and headings and incorporating images (with alternative text) was converted to PDF using each of the convertors below. The resulting document was then checked in Adobe? Reader for a number of the accessibility benefits that the format can offer.
Cute PDF Writer
- Downloadable software or web-based service? Download.
- Are there any print preferences? No.
- Is text recognised as text? Yes.
- Are bookmarks transferred? No.
- Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? No.
- Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? No, blocks of text are merged into one another and images are merged into the main text.
- Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
- Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes (but affected by reading order).
- Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
- Other comments: A commercial version (CutePDF Professional) is also available with additional functionality.
Pdf995
- Downloadable software or web-based service? Download; this is a suite three programmes (Pdf995, PdfEdit995 and Signature995) each offering slightly different functionality.
- Are there any print preferences? No.
- Is text recognised as text? Yes.
Are bookmarks transferred? No, but bookmarks can be inserted using PdfEdit995. - Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? No.
- Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed?No, blocks of text are merged into one another and images are merged into the main text.
- Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes (but affected by reading order). - Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
- Other comments: Can upgrade to a commercial version; the free version contains pop up adverts.
PrimoPDF
- Downloadable software or web-based service? Both software download and web-based services available.
- Are there any print preferences within the downloaded software? Some relating to image properties.
- Are there any accessibility options available in the web-based service? No.
- Is text recognised as text? Yes.
- Are bookmarks transferred? No.
- Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? No.
- Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? No.
- Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes (but affected by reading order). - Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Document colours can be changed.
Do PDF
- Downloadable software or web-based service? Download.
- Are there any print preferences? Yes, scale and resolution can be changed.
- Is text recognised as text? Yes.
- Are bookmarks transferred? No.
Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? No. - Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? Yes.
Is the alternative text for images maintained? No. - Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes.
- Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
Doc2PDF
- Downloadable software or web-based service? Web-based.
- Are there any accessibility options? No.
- Is text recognised as text? Yes.
- Are bookmarks transferred? Yes.
- Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? Yes.
- Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? Yes, but with some of the text merges incorrectly.
- Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
- Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes.
- Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
GoogleDocs
- Downloadable software or web-based service? Web-based.
- Are there any accessibility options? No.
- Is text recognised as text? Yes.
- Are bookmarks transferred? Yes (if created in GoogleDocs originally).
- Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? Yes but may require some correction.
- Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? Yes.
- Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
- Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes.
- Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
- Other comments: Some images were missing from the PDF produced.
Well Thats it. Of course you could use Open Office that has the pdf converter already available and is a great alternative to Microsoft Office.
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Photoshop Reflection Tutorial
By | March 20, 2008
With this tutorial I am going to show you how you can add reflections to your text, shapes or isolated objects. This is a very common (and easy) technique and is used a lot, especially in web design.
As an example for this tutorial I will add a reflection to text, however as I said before you can also use the same technique to add reflections to shapes or isolated objects.
Let’s start our little Photoshop training session
I have created a new document and just type PS Reflection as you can see in the screenshot below.
The first step is to duplicate our text layer. You can do that by simply pressing Ctrl+J or by going to Layer -> Duplicate Layer.
Now, select the Move Tool (V) and drag the duplicate layer below the original one like in the screenshot below.
(You can also add a bit of perspective to the reflection layer by transforming it (Edit->Transform->Perspective) if you want.
The next step is to add a layer mask to the duplicate layer. To do this simply click on the add layer mask button in the layers palette.
add layer mask button
Now pick the Gradient Tool and draw a gradient (black to white) in the direction that the arrow is showing in the screenshot below. (Hold Shift while you draw the gradient)
You should now have something like this.
Finally just reduce the opacity of the duplicate layer and you are all done. I reduced the opacity to 35% and here is my final result.
Final result of photoshop training session
There is no golden rule about the opacity % , just play with the opacity setting until you get your desired result.
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Great Place for Wordpress Themes
By | March 18, 2008
Themes are great ways to customize your site.
If you are aiming to earn from AdSense, then use Prosense theme from DoshDosh.Com.
I was just browsing WP themes last night and I did see some nice Real Estate ones, as well as a ton of other really nice themes at http://www.wpthemesarchive.com/brow…ry/business/
Themes offered from http://www.blogohblog.com .. I use one of his free themes on www.GurusLab.com he also offers a couple of paid themes that cost a lot less than some of those *cough*, premium designs out there.
Most themes can be adjusted to whatever you like using the css style sheets and a few graphics.
Contents and Video Titles
1. Changing a header graphic
2. Playing with CSS Style Sheets
3. Inserting code and scripts
4. Content Management CMS
5. Advanced Plugins
6. Graphics and logins
7. Desktop Blogging
8. RSS uses and stats
9. 404 pages Customize your error pages
10. Widgets
11. Resources and summary
Visit http://www.advancedwordpress to get your copy.
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Glossy Icon Pack - 4 pieces Free PSD
By | February 21, 2008
Thanks to Aaron at http://photoshopcandy.com
Here you will find a 4 pack of really cool glossy style icons. I made these in photoshop - could you have guessed?
Enjoy the icons….Enjoy the site.
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Shopping Cart options
By | February 14, 2008
Alternative 5: E-junkie
E-junkie.com
Tucson-based E-junkie is one of many shopping cart providers, but it distinguishes itself in the market by automating delivery. The shopping cart is an integral part of an e-commerce site experience; choosing the right one for your business takes time and research, but will make purchasing an easier experience for the customer.
E-junkie particularly well-suited for do-it-yourself artists and creative freelancers. For tangible goods, its system can automatically determine what size and shape packaging works best for each product in a vendor’s inventory. For digital products, it streamlines file storage and instantaneous delivery. Prices vary depending on the services selected, but start at $5 per month for 10 products.
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Trial Pay for your payment processor
By | February 14, 2008
Alternative 4: TrialPay
TrialPay.com
TrialPay is a particularly unorthodox payment option. It pairs merchants with advertises to boost sales for both and offer consumers a chance to get products they’re looking at for free.
Here’s how it works: Merchants enlisted with TrialPay give away their products for free when a shopper completes an offer from one of TrialPay’s client advertisers, who then pays the merchant a bounty that equals or exceeds the product price. The system works best for software and online services vendors that can offer instantaneous digital delivery.
TrialPay has worked with more than 2,500 merchants. You can see it in action at WinZip and Skype. Vendors can use TrialPay’s shopping cart system or integrate it with any other existing shopping cart.
“Once you get the set-up done, it’s all hands off,” says Rick Trefzger, vice president of sales at Boynton Beach, Fla.-based iS3, which sells StopZilla anti-spyware software. “TrialPay’s reporting is great — you get a link that tracks each campaign and TrialPay will track it in real time.”
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2 Checkout a great primary or alternative Payment processor
By | February 14, 2008
Alternative 3: 2Checkout.com
2checkout.com
I have been using 2 checkout for years and find them a great service and very responsive. They pay into your account every week if you reach the thresh hold and this can be great for cash flow.
“I knew I had to start accepting credit cards on my online site or my company wouldn’t grow,” says Troy Godshall, owner of APlusTemplates.com. “I had poor credit at the time and knew I wouldn’t get a merchant account, but 2Checkout.com allowed me to accept credit cards without all the paperwork.”
2Checkout.com processes credit cards and checks while monitoring for fraud and ensuring data security. The site has about 50,000 active vendors and signs up 1,500 new clients every month. For each transaction, there’s a 5% rolling reserve for 90 days. Vendors with an existing shopping cart system can integrate their platform with 2Checkout.com or chose to use 2Checkout’s own shopping cart.
2Checkout.com has a one-time setup fee of $49.00 and takes a 5.5% commission plus $0.45 for each sale. “My product is about $30,” says Godshall. “So the commission isn’t bad, considering the headache I avoid, not having to deal with fraud issues.”
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