Freebie for the day : #8 - Clarity Progress Bar

Font for the day - #8 : Velocity

Download : http://www.dafont.com/velocity.font

Add excellent light effects to an image using photoshop !

Tutorial Resources

• Blanched Paper Textures from WeGraphics
• Dancer from Shutterstock
• light_effects_custombrushes (ZIP, 26.1 MB)

Step 1: Set up the background

Let’s start the tutorial by creating a new document (Ctrl/Cmd + N) in Photoshop. Since I like printing my work, I will typically choose a large standard document size (like A4) and set the Resolution at 300 pixels/inch
.

Once the new Photoshop document has been created, fill (Edit > Fill) the default Background layer with a dark blue (#052b4c).
I start my work from the background. If you do the same, I suggest that you don’t give too much importance to your starting colors because we can change them later on once we have completed our foreground work. The most important thing at the beginning is to achieve a concept—something interesting to represent. The beauty of Photoshop is that it allows you to change colors and other aspects of your work at any moment. The best moment to work with colors is when you have more elements to play with, near the end.
Let us start by creating a new layer (Crtl/Cmd + Shift + N). Next, set white (#ffffff) as your Foreground color and then select a large, soft brush tip with Hardness at 0% for our Brush Tool (B).
Simply click once at the center of the canvas to apply your brush stroke.

Step 2: Create a simple ellipse light effect

Since the scene is focused at the center of the canvas, we are going to create a light effect that will enhance all elements that will be placed there. Press Ctrl/Cmd + T to activate the Free Transform command and contract the light source so that it becomes an ellipse.
Then, remove the edges of the brush stroke using the Eraser Tool (E) (or use a layer mask, if you want).

Step 3: Create some clouds

We will now make some clouds. Make sure to have white (#ffffff) as foreground color and black (#000000) as your background color; you can press the D key to reset your foreground/background color to white/black and then press X to switch foreground and background colors.
Create a new layer and then go to Filter > Render > Clouds.

Activate the Free Transform command (Ctrl/Cmd+T) and enlarge the clouds layer by pulling on one of the corner transform controls.

Switch the layer’s blending mode to Screen to remove black parts of the clouds layer and also reduce the layer’s Opacity to around 30%.

To make the clouds more realistic, use the Eraser Tool (E) to remove some parts to make it look randomized. As always, use a large, soft brush with a Hardness set at 0%.
Just to recap our simple five-step clouds creation process:

1. Create a new layer and apply the clouds filter
2. Enlarge the layer
3. Switch the layer blending mode to screen
4. Reduce opacity
5. Remove unwanted parts

Repeat the same process to create other clouds. Try experimenting with different layer dimensions and opacity. This is what I ended up with:

Step 4: Select and prepare your subject

Choose a nice subject for your work. I chose this nice image of a dancer, but you can pick  any image that you like or have lying around.
Since we will create light effects to play with, I suggest you pick a dynamic moving subject such as a person jumping, an animal running, or a rock star jamming.
Once you’ve chosen your subject, copy and paste (Ctrl/Cmd + V) it into the canvas.

At this point, we have to modify the dancer. In particular, the aim is to increase the image contrast and to give the subject a grungier look. We can achieve both these results with a texture.
Firsst, you must download the free sample of my Bleached Paper Texture set, open it in Photoshop, and paste it into our document. Also, you can check out the Design Instruct Freebie section for other interesting textures to use.
Resize the texture with Free Transform (Ctrl/Cmd + T) so that it’s of the same size as our canvas.

Step 5: Apply a clipping mask on the texture layer

We want to apply our texture only to the subject. For this purpose, we can create a clipping mask. To do so, press Alt/Option and then click between the subject’s layer and the texture layer in the Layers Panel. A little arrow should appear and the texture layer’s name will move a bit to the right inside the Layers Panel indicating that you have added a clipping mask.
The clipping mask means that all the things we do in the texture layer will affect only the area delimited by dancer’s silhouette.

Switch the texture layer’s blending mode to Overlay and reduce the Opacity to 70%.

Step 6: Change the texture’s color

You can see how the texture details nicely interact with the human body. If you zoom in (press Z to activate the Zoom Tool, and then click on the canvas), you will notice that the grunge texture looks like veins. I want to play around with this idea/concept.
Let’s change the texture’s color. Press Ctrl/Cmd + U to open the Hue/Saturation dialog window. Check the Colorize option and move the hue slider to the area between purple and red.

Now create a mask on top of the texture layer by pressing the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers Panel.
Next, grab a soft, black brush for our Brush Tool (B) and remove textures from some parts of the body. The image below will show you suggested parts to paint on:

Step 7: Add a vivid light effect

It’s time to add a more brilliant and prominent light effect. Right-click on the subject’s layer in the Layers Panel and then choose Blending Options from the contextual menu.
Add an Outer Glow layer style. Increase the Size of the outer glow to around 200px and set Blend Mode to Color Dodge.

The light effect you see at the top is the result of the combination between the ellipse light effect we created at the beginning and the Outer Glow layer style.
If you want to change the orientation of this effect, simply move the elliptical lighting effect layer around.

Step 8: Create an abstract Photoshop brush

Here comes the fun part. There are plenty of ways to create light effects. In this tutorial, I’ll show you one of the simplest methods. We will make abstract fractals for our custom brushes and then we will use these brushes to add lights into our work.
In order to create nice abstract fractal effect, we will use the flame tool, which is a free online tool made by Peter Blaskovic. This tool is amazing!

Create you own flames and save them to your computer. Use default colors and once finished, just press Save. Save your flame as a JPG image.
Open one of the flames you just created in Photoshop. We are going to create a cool brush set with these.

Desaturate the image by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + U).
Then invert the image by going to Image > Adjustments > Invert (Ctrl/Cmd + I). We invert the images because while you create Photoshop brushes, you have to consider that the white parts will be transparent and the blacker parts will represent the brush stroke. The parts that are in grayscale will therefore be the only ones saved as brushes.
Here is the result:

To save the brush, go to Edit > Define Brush Preset.
We have thus created the first brush of the set! Go ahead and create other brushes following the same process.

Step 9: Apply the custom abstract Photoshop brush

Create a new layer group (Ctrl/Cmd + G) and title it "light effect". Set the group’s blending mode to Color Dodge. Create a new layer (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N) inside the "light effect" group, set your Foreground color to white (#ffffff), and then click on the canvas to apply our custom abstract brush stroke.
Here is your light effect! Really simple, don’t you agree? I promised it would only take 10 minutes!
If you want a stronger light effect, duplicate the layer (Ctrl/Cmd + J) and experiment with the layer’s blending mode.

You can now use all the brushes of the brush set you created. Try to combine them in harmony with the body of the subject.
Also try this: Create a new layer, apply an abstract brush stroke, then rotate it with the Free Transform command (Ctrl/Cmd + T). You can also flip the layer (Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal or Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical). This can add variety to your abstract light effects.
Remember to create each brush stroke on a different layer so that you can move them separately to achieve a satisfactory composition.
Here is the result after I played around with all the brushes of my own set.

Step 10: Add more light effects

Still inside our "light effect" layer group, create a new layer (Ctrl/Cmd + J). This time we will use soft brushes to enhance some parts of the body. For example, take a look at the left hand of the dancer—it’s covered by some light beams. We can start there. Add more light where you think it’s necessary.

Step 11: Make energy particles

We will now create energy particles to detail our light effects. Create another layer inside the same group. Select the 16px Soft Mechanical tip.

Next, we will modify the Brushes options. If it’s not opened, toggle the Brushes Panel (Window > Brushes).
Check the Spacing option and increase its value to 400%.

Then, check the Shape Dynamic and set its options to the following values:

Finally, check Scattering and use the following suggested settings:

All that remains now is to paint over the canvas to create our energy particles. I suggest adding the energy particles on their own layers to compartmentalize our work. To increase the brightness and prominence of the energy particles, you can add an Outer Glow layer style to them.

Step 12: Final adjustments

Our work is almost complete. As I wrote at beginning of the tutorial, Photoshop allows us to play with colors at any moment.
In another tutorial I wrote here on Design Instruct, I showed you the power of adjustment layers in Photoshop and how they can dramatically change our work. We will now follow a similar process to complete the work.

Hue/Saturation adjustment layer

Let’s start by desaturating our image a bit. This is something I often do because I’ll apply a Gradient Map later (with its blending mode set at Overlay) that will increase color contrast.
Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation and reduce Saturation to -40.
Note that you can also add adjustment layers by clicking on the Create new fill or layer adjustment button located at the bottom of the Layers Panel.

Curves adjustment layer

Increase the image’s contrast using a Curves adjustment layer. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves. Create a curve as shown in the image below:

Gradient Map adjustment layer

Finally, add a Gradient Map adjustment layer. Set the color gradient so that it goes from purple (#6f156c) to yellow (#f9e600).

Afterwards, set the adjustment layer’s blending mode to Overlay and reduce its Opacity to 50%.
That’s it. We’re done!

Tutorial Summary

I showed you a variety of light effect techniques in this tutorial. We applied a simple light effect glow using a soft, white brush. Then we stepped it up a notch by adding an Outer Glow layer style on our subject. We created custom abstract light brushes as well as energy particles to enhance the look of our light effects. We applied a clipping mask to our subject for artistic purposes. To finish off our composition, we added some adjustment layers.
I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and learned a few tricks for adding light effects on your own work.
Here is the final result:

Freebie for the day : #7 - Album Cover

Inspiration For the Day - #7 : Fiction !

Font for the day - #7 : Just like that

Just like that is a very different font that is half shaded and half blank it can be used in many feids as wll as occasions to please your clients . Must Have !

DAfont Download : http://www.dafont.com/just-like-that.font 

How to whiten and brighten teeth in photoshop

Here’s the image I’ll be using for this tutorial. The woman’s teeth look nice and white already, but the man’s teeth appear a bit dull and yellow and could use a little whitening:

The original image.

Here’s how the teeth will look when we’re done:

The final result.

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Select The Area Around The Teeth With The Lasso Tool

First, grab the Lasso tool from the Tools palette in Photoshop, or press the letter L on your keyboard to quickly select it:

Select the Lasso tool from the Tools palette, or press “L” on your keyboard.

With the Lasso tool selected, I’m going to draw a selection around the guy’s teeth. I don’t need to be precise with my selection here because this selection is only temporary. All I need is to have his teeth inside the selected area:

Selecting the area around his teeth. No need to be precise here because this selection is temporary.

Step 2: Choose A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer

With the area around his teeth selected, I’m going to go to the bottom of the Layers palette and click on the New Adjustment Layer icon:

Click the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette.

Then I’ll select a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer from the list:

Choose “Hue/Saturation” from the list.

This brings up the Hue/Saturation dialog box, and we’re going to use it to remove the yellow from his teeth and brighten them at the same time.

Step 3: Select Yellows From The Hue/Saturation Edit List

The reason his teeth are not white is because, obviously, there’s too much yellow in them, so we need to remove the yellow. To do that, with the Hue/Saturation dialog box open, click the down-pointing arrow to the right of the word “Master” at the top of the dialog box and select Yellows from the list. This will allow us to make changes only to the yellow in the image:

Select “Yellows” from the Edit list in the Hue/Saturation dialog box.

With our yellows selected, drag the Saturation slider in the middle of the dialog box all the way to the left, which desaturates (removes) the yellow from the teeth, leaving the teeth whiter:

Drag the Saturation slider to the left to remove the yellow color from the teeth.

His teeth now appear whiter thanks to the yellow being removed. If only it were so easy in real life:

His teeth now appear whiter after removing the yellow with the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer.

Step 4: Drag The Lightness Slider To The Right To Brighten The Teeth

His teeth now look whiter, but they could use some brightening as well, and we can do that using the same Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. First, go back up to the Edit list at the top of the dialog box, click on the down-pointing arrow once again, and this time, select Master from the list. The "Master" option allows us to make changes to every color in the image at once:

Set the Edit option back to “Master” at the top of the Hue/Saturation dialog box.

With “Master” selected, drag the Lightness slider, which is directly below the Saturation option, towards the right. This will brighten the teeth. The further you drag the slider, the brighter the teeth become. Keep an eye on your image in the document window as you drag the slider so you don’t end up dragging it too far:

Drag the Lightness slider to the right to brighten the teeth.

Click OK when you’re done to exit out of the dialog box.

We can see in the image now that not only have I brightened his teeth, I’ve also brightened the area around them, since that was the area I initially selected with my Lasso tool:

His teeth are now brighter, but so is the area around them.

No worries though. We’re going to fix that next.

Step 5: Fill The Hue/Saturation Layer Mask With Black

One of the great things about using adjustment layers in Photoshop is that each one comes with its own layer mask. If we look in the Layers palette, we can see that we have two layers. The original image is on the Background layer, and directly above it is our Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. The black rectangle with the small area of white in it on the right of the adjustment layer is the layer mask thumbnail, which is showing us a preview of our mask. That small area of white is the area we’ve selected around the man’s teeth.

Make sure the layer mask is selected. The way you can tell if a mask is selected or not is by looking for a white highlight border around the mask preview thumbnail in the Layers palette. If you see a white highlight border around the thumbnail, it means the mask is currently selected. If you don’t see the border, click on the thumbnail to select it:

Make sure the layer mask for the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer is selected.

We’re going to remove that initial selection around his teeth by filling the layer mask with black. This will temporarily hide all the work we did from view. With the layer mask selected, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and select Fill, which brings up the Fill dialog box. For “Contents”, click on the down-pointing arrow and chooseBlack from the list:

Make sure “Black” is selected for the Fill contents.

With black selected, click OK to exit out of the dialog box. Photoshop fills the layer mask with black:

The layer mask is now filled with black.

With the layer mask filled with black, it looks like we’ve undone all the work we did on his teeth. They’re back to being yellow and dull:

His teeth are now back to their original yellow.

Don’t worry, all the work we did is still there, we just can’t see it at the moment. We’re going to fix that though by using a brush to paint the whitening and brightening back in, and we’ll do that next.

Step 6: Select The Brush Tool

Select Photoshop’s Brush tool from the Tools palette, or press B on your keyboard to quickly select it:

Select the Brush tool.

Step 7: Set White As Your Foreground Color

Make sure you have white selected as your foreground color, since we’re going to be painting on the layer mask with white in order to reveal the effects of the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer over the guy’s teeth. To quickly set it to white, first make sure you have the Hue/Saturation layer mask selected in the layers palette, and then press the letter D on your keyboard, which will set your foreground color to white and your background color to black:

Select the layer mask, then press “D” to set white as your foreground color.

Step 8: Paint With White Over The Teeth To Restore The Whitening And Brightening

With our brush selected, the layer mask selected in the Layers palette, and white as our foreground color, all we need to do now is paint over the teeth with our brush to bring back the whitening and brightening. You’ll probably need to change the size of your brush as you’re painting. To change the brush size, press the right bracket keyon your keyboard to make the brush larger and the left bracket key to make it smaller. You’ll find the bracket keys to the right of the letter “P" on your keyboard. If you want to adjust the edge hardness of the brush, hold down yourShift key and press the right or left bracket keys. Shift+right bracket makes the brush edges harder, andShift+left bracket makes the edges softer.

Simply paint over the teeth with the brush to reveal the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer over those areas, making the teeth whiter and brighter. You may find it easier to zoom in on the teeth, as I’m doing here:

Painting over the teeth to reveal the whitening and brightening.

If you accidentally paint over an area you didn’t mean to, just press the letter X on your keyboard to swap your Foreground and Background colors, which will set your Foreground color to black. Paint over the mistake to hide the effects of the adjustment layer, then press X again to switch back to white and continue painting.

For some areas, you may also find it easier to paint with a lower opacity brush. You’ll find the Opacity option in the Options Bar at the top of the screen. A low opacity of around 20% is sometimes helpful to avoid over brightening teeth in the darker corners of the mouth:

Lower the opacity of the brush if necessary to apply less whitening to darker corners.

Continue painting over the teeth until you’ve whitened and brightened them all. I’ll zoom back out of my photo, and we can see that the man’s teeth are now just as white as the woman’s teeth:

Both people’s teeth are now white and bright thanks to Photoshop.

Step 9: Lower The Opacity Of The Adjustment Layer If Needed

Keep in mind that no matter what the toothpaste companies want us to believe, our teeth are not supposed to be pure white. If you find that your whitening effect is a bit too strong, making the teeth look unnaturally white, you can easily fine-tune the effect by lowering the opacity of the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. You’ll find the Opacityoption near the top of the Layers palette. I’m going to lower my opacity down to about 75%:

Reduce the whitening effect by lowering the opacity of the adjustment layer.

Here is my final “teeth whitening” result:

The final result.