Portraiture Photoshop Plugin

The portraiture plugin for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements can be found on
http://www.imagenomic.com/pt.aspx.

Photoshop Elements SIG 12-17-08

Fix Red-Eye and color Cornea

1. Openphoto in Full Edit or Quick Edit.
2. In Quick Edit try the Auto Fix but if this doesn't work, pick the Red Eye tool in Quick Edit or in Full Edit and click in the red of each eye.
3. and eliminate red
4. Go to Full edit and use the Quick Selection tool to select the left eye and then add to the other eye using pressing the Shift key when using the Quick Selection tool to add the selection.
   
5. With the eye selected add a Solid Color Adjustment layer
6. Choose the color you want and
7. Change Blend mode to overlay and reduce opacity to suit.

Whiten Teeth

1. Open model in Quick Edit
2. In Quick Edit – paint with the Whiten Teeth brush found at the bottom of the panel.
3. With Selection Go to Full Edit
4. Adjust the opacity
5. Ctrl+click on Adjustment layer to make the load the selection of the teeth
6. Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer
7. Reduce the Saturation to remove any color (like yellow)

Smart Objects – New Frame Layer

This is from a tutorial on Photoshop.com

This technology started in V5.0 and is used in photo collages and photobooks. We’ll look into the technology

1. Open an image in Full Edit.
2. Use Free-transform to downsize to postage stamp size. Click accept
   
3. Use Free-transform to restore to original size and click accept.
   
4. Notice the jaggies - not sharp
5. Undo
6. Choose Create – Photo Collage
7. Select a Page size
8. Choose Theme – no theme
9. Pick a layout - simple, for landscape image choose the first one.
10. Uncheck – Auto place
11. Drag in image from bin
12. Resize down and then up
    
13. Notice no lack of sharpness.

Holiday card

1. File > New 8 in X 4 in – 240 ppi
2. File > Place holiday-card background
3. File > Place command brings your image in a something called a smart object. Smart objects can be scaled up or down, rotated, or otherwise transformed without sacrificing quality. If you do need to scale your background image, and want to do it proportionally, make sure the Constrain Proportion box in the Options Bar is checked.
4. Scale to fit.
5. Ctrl + J to dupe background
6. Blend to Multiply, this will darken the image.
7. Make sure default colors are set to black as the foreground color
8. Add a gradient adjustment layer and choose the second gradient from the left in the top row, Foreground to Transparent.
9. Click the Reverse checkbox, and click OK.
10. Select Rectangle Shape tool (U) draw a rectangle approximately where you would like the family picture to appear.
11. Duplicate the shape layer by pressing control-J and rename the original shape layer White Rectangle.
12. Hide the black rectangle layer by clicking the layer visibility icon.
13. Click on the white rectangle layer and making sure why he is still your foreground color, press control-backspace. This should fill the shape with white.
14. The bottom shape will serve as the frame for the pictures, so it needs to be a little bigger than the black shape on top. Using free transform, and with the alt key drag one of the side borders. Using the alt key both sides will resize equally.
15. Repeat this for the rectangle tight and accept the transformation.
16. You’re white rectangle layer should still be targeted. Hold down shift on your keyboard and click the black rectangle layer. With both rectangle layers selected, click the Link Layers icon at the top of the layers palette.
17. Free-Transform, position the cursor outside one of the corners and rotate at a slight angle and reposition on the paper if necessary, because both rectangle layers are linked together they will transform at the same time.
18. Press Enter.
19. Unlink the layers
20. It's time to add your family photo. Go to file > Place and navigate to the photo. We plan to use. Because it is a Smart Object until you press enter or return, it can be scaled without affecting the quality. Checked the constrain proportions box in the option bar to scale the image proportionally and rotate it to 50 angle of the rectangles we created. Your image should be a little larger than the black rectangle.
21. Press Enter
22. In the Layers palette, position the photo layer directly above the black rectangle layer. If it's not there already.
    
23. To have the image appeared only in the the black rectangle press control-G, which creates a clipping group. You can use the move tool to position the image inside the rectangle. Using a clipping group allows you to use other photos in your template if you wish. All you need to do is place another photo directly above the black rectangle and protect and press control plus G2 clip it to the rectangle area.
24. Use the Text tool to add text

Enhancing the Sun’s Rays

1. Create a new blank file 500 pixels by 500 pixels.
2. Select the Gradient tool from the toolbox.
3. In the top left of the options bar click on the small downward facing arrow on the Gradient Picker, which lets you choose a specific gradient. We're going to choose from a different gradient group, so click the small double arrows to the top right of that window and choose the Noise samples preset from the list.
   
4. Then click on the transparent pixels per gradient-the last one in the noise gradients list-and will use this gradient for the project.
5. The five icons to the right of the Gradient pickerare the types and gradients we can apply. We'll choose the Angle Gradient the middle icon here. Move your cursor to the middle of the image and click and drag toward the bottom right corner to create the gradient. You don't have to be exact, but it is close to the center as possible.
6. The grain is fairly uneven for what will need to do layers so we'll drag a gradient three more times once from the center to the bottom left corner and then from the center to the top left and finally from the center toward the top right. That will even out the effect can make it look more realistic when we add it to our photo.
7. We don't want to have any color in this gradient so will go to the Enhance menu and choose Adjust Color> remove color.
8. To add more punch go to levels and slide the black slider over toward the left edge of the histogram and the white slider toward the right edge of the histogram then click OK.
9. Select all and Copy
   
10. Now we're ready to apply this to a photo. Choose. Open the image we want to apply it to and paste the gradient onto it
11. Obviously the gradient tool looks quite funky the way is laid out on top of the image, changing the layers blend mode from normal to overlay will help out a lot making it look like some really intense sunbeams. Use the move tool to move the center of the gradient over the Sun.
12. Finally, select the eraser tool from the toolbox click on the one of the brush presets and use a large 300 pixel brush and erase around the edges so the rays will just affect the immediate area around the Sun.
13. If you want to re-create this effect all over again, you can save it and open it in again to reuse it without going through all the steps of creating.
    

Photoshop Elements SIG 11-19-08

Creating something different

1. Open an image
2. With image open > Change Background to a Layer
3. Rectangle Marquee select a rather small area in the center
4. Copy selection to a new layer using Control+J
5. Double click the new layer and change the name to top and
6. Change Blending Mode to multiply to be able to see it.
7. Make 3 more selections on the layer “0”, the bottom, each one a little larger and
8. Copy each to a layer using Control+J
9. Name the layers from top under the Top layer, Green, Gold. & Brown
10. Make Drop shadow for each starting from top by first
11. Creating a new layer under the Top layer by pressing the Ctrl key and
12. Clicking on the New Layer Icon then
13. Ctrl+click the Top layer to add the selection of the top layer and on the
14. New blank layer fill with black using the Paint Bucket tool, make sure the default colors are selected
15. Deselect and blur using Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Adjust the amount to suit.
16. Do the above on the Green, Gold and Brown layers
17. On the Top Layer press the Alt key and Click and hold the Adjustment Layer Icon at the top of the Layers palette.
18. Select the Hue/Sat Adjustment layer and click in Group with Previous box
19. Adjust Saturation -80%
20. Brightness 10
21. Paint with black on the Hue/Saturation Mask in the center to reveal some full color
22. Ctrl click the top layer to create a selection and then
23. Edit > Stroke the Selection with white
24. 5 px inside for the top layer
25. Do the same on the bottom layer with a 10 PX white stroke
26. On the Green, Gold. & Brown layers add an Adjustment layer as you did on the Top Layer, Alt + Click on Hue/Sat and Group with Previous checked.
27. Instead of adjusting the Hue, click on colorize and then adjust the color for
28. Green, Gold. & Brown respectively on each layer.
29. Select the bottom layer and
30. Ctrl+click on the New layer icon to add a New layer under bottom layer
31. Image > Resize > Canvas - Increase the Canvas by 1” Width and Height check Relative.
32. On the new layer on bottom add a Foreground to Background Gradient with the Foreground color – 4a3300 and the Background color – b40000
33. On the top layer choose the Burn tool with a brush size about ½ the size of the top layer.
34. 50% Exposure and Midtones
35. Drag along the top and sides to darken
36. Rotate the middle layers Using Free Transform (Ctrl+T) and click and drag outside of a corner.
37. You can use the Text tool to add your name on the bottom.
    

Photoshop SIG 11-10-08 - Photoshop CS4

OpenGL 2.0

For Photoshop to access the GPU, the display card must contain a display driver that supports OpenGL 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0 and has enough Graphics RAM to support Photoshop functions, at least 128 MB (256 MB is recommended).

Information on the GPU accelerated features and on Adobe tested and supported graphics cards can be found at http://tinyurl.com/6rdxql.

The Accelerated Features can be turned on or off in the Preferences > Performance.

New Tabbed image window - To move a selection from one image tab to another, make the selection in one image and Ctrl + Drag to the other image until it opens and then drag the selection down into the image.

Photoshop CS4 Features and Shortcuts

Hide Panels - Shift + Tab

Change the Brush Size by pressing the Alt key and right click and drag to change the size. There will be a visual appearance in red of the brush. The color is set in the Preferences > Cursor. To change the Hardness press Shift +Alt and drag.

Spring Loaded Tools - with a tool selected press and hold the shortcut tool for the 2nd tool. This tool will be active as long as the key is held. You will return to the selected tool when you release the shortcut.

Zoom - For continuous zooming, choose the Zoom tool - shortcut Z and click and hold. Release the mouse when you reach the desired zoom level. Press the H and click again to fit in the screen and get a navigation square that can be moved in image to a different point in the image.

Content Aware Scaling - Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C - Must be on a layer. Double click background to change the background to a layer.

Select an area that you want to protect and save as a channel. In the Options pick the Alpha channel in the Protect box to protect the selected area or the People Icon to order to protect skintones.

Bridge in CS4 - Change thumbnail size - press Ctrl and use the mouse scroll wheel.

New Tool - To increase the tonal range of an image take two photos of the scend, one exposed for the highlights and the other for the shadows. Use the same f-stop and change the shutter speed to do this. In Bridge select the two images and choose Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers. On the top image add a Layer Mask and blend the two images together.

Increase Depth of Field - Take multiple images with different focus points and in Bridge select these and then choose Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers. In Photoshop select all layers using the shift key and in the Edit menu > Choose Auto Align Layers > Auto. Next choose Auto Blend Layers > Stack Images and make sure Seamless Tones and Colors is checked.

In Bridge to get a Full Screen Preview - Press the Space Bar

Stack like Images - Ctrl + G. To open the stack, click on the number in the upper thumbnail corner.

Adjustment Panels - Add a new Adjustment layer by clicking the left arrow in the lower part of the panel.

For Targeted adjustments click the icon at the top of those on the left that looks like a hand. Drag in the image. This is available in the Curves Adjustment where dragging up lightens and down darkens; in the Hue/Saturation where dragging to the right increases saturation and to the left decreases saturation. Ctrl dragging changes the Hue; in the Black and White panel, clicking in the image and dragging to the right lightens this tone and to the left darkens this tone in the image.

Clone and Healing brush live previews - To get a live preview of what you are cloning or healing make sure Show Overlay is checked in the Clone Source Panel. This should be checked by default.

For excellent tutorials on Photoshop CS4 go to http://www.lynda.com/cs4u/ All of the tutorials on this site can be accessed for a fee of $25 per month. I received a free month when I purchased the upgrade from Adobe.

Photoshop Elements SIG, 10-15-08

New features of Photoshop Elements 7.0 were discussed. The video shown on the new Scene Cleaner tool can be found at http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=709.

You can pay a monthly fee to view all tutorials on this site or buy the CD.

The steps used in creating the Triptych can be found in the September blog.

TBCS Photoshop SIG, Oct. 13, 2008

The URL's for the web sites of the plugin filters that were demostrated are:

Fixerlabs, FixerBundle V2 - http://www.fixerlabs.com/index.htm

Nic Software, Sharpener Pro 3.0 - http://www.niksoftware.com/index/usa/entry.php

The Action for creating an Out-of-Bounds photo is free from PanosFX
http://www.panosfx.com/. Scroll down on the page and you will find the Out-of-bounds action which is free. There are instructions for downloading, installing and using this Action. It cannot be used in Elements.

The Photoshop CS4 video on Content Aware Scaling by Russell Brown can be found on his site at
http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html. Scroll down on this page and you will find the Quick Time video.

Creative Enhancement in Camera RAW

1. Open an image in Camera RAW Converter
2. Move the following sliders to the right to 100, Recovery, Fill Light, Contrast, Clarity, and Vibrance. Move Black to about 50. Adjust Exposure and Black and the Contrast curve. This is the 2nd icon at the top of the converter dialog box. Move the Highlight and Lights sliders to the right and the Darks and Shadows sliders to the left to create a dramatic "S" curve.
3. Adjust all sliders to suite.
   

Phtotoshop Elements SIG, September 17, 2008

Create a Triptych

1. Turn on Rulers and Grids
2. I had in Edit > Preferences > GridGrid line every 2 inches and subdivisions 4
3. Duplicate background to a new layer using Ctrl+J and name “image name”
4. Set Background and Foreground to default
5. Choose the Rectangle Shape Tool (U) and Draw a rectangle – mine was 2” by 7”
6. With tool still active Ctrl+Alt+Shift click on rectangle and drag to the right about a block away to create a copy
7. Rt+Click on Shape tool and choose from bottom of list the Shape Selection Tool
8. Ggo to first rectangle and Transform > Shape > Perspective and drag down top right corner a block or division
9. The bottom moves up as well
10. Choose Enter or click the check mark
11. With Shape selection tool active duplicate (ctrl+Alt+Shift) the first rectangle and drag to the far right.
12. With far right shape still selected go to Image > Rotate > Flip Layer Horizontal
13. With the Shape Selection tool click on middle rectangle and drag the top and bottom to match the outside shapes
14. Choose Enter or click the check mark
15. Use the Move tool to position the 3 shapes
16. In the Layers palette drag the Shape layer below the duplicated background
17. Create a new blank layer below the Shape layer using the New Layer icon
18. Click on the Foreground color icon and choose a background color for the final, I choose Gray.
19. Fill new layer with this color
20. On the layers palette hold the Alt key and position mouse between the top image layer and the shape layer. Click when you see overlapping circles.
21. This creates a clipping group and groups the image into the shapes.
22. With the Shape Selection Tool move the two outside shapes closer to the middle one. Ctrl+shift while dragging to drag in a straight line.
23. With shape layer active go to the Effects palette and click the Layer Style button and choose Drop Shadows and double click to apply a style.
24. Double click the style icon on the layer and check Stroke and place a 4 pixel stroke in black. Change color from Red by clicking in the red box.
25. Add new layer under the shape layer
26. Edit > Fill Layer Choose 50% Gray
27. Change blend mode to Overlay
28. Move layer on to the top of image layer
    
29. Paint with black and a 30% opacity to darken edges of all shapes. You can hold the shift key to paint in a straight line.
30. Turn off Grid view
31. Save as PSD to maintain Layers.

Photoshop SIG 8-8-08

Click for a short video on using the Graduated Filter and Adjustment brush in Lightroom 2.
This is a new way I'm showing videos so it is a little choppy right now but I hope this will be better. Click on http://screencast.com/t/maiIlVpkKfW.

There are many good resources for learning Lightroom 2. Julieanne Kost of Adobe has some good free tutorials on her web site, http://www.jkost.com/lightroom.html.

A good introduction to Lightroom 2 is on the Photoshop User website,
http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom2/ where NAPP has some excellent videos on Lightroom 2. Non NAPP members can access this site.

Another good resource for learning Lightroom 2 is found on the Luminous Landscape site,
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/videos/download-videos.shtml. They have a downloadable 7.5 hours of video tutorials. The cost is only $39.95 and worth it.

A good book on Lightroom 2 is The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book by Martin Evening. I use this as a resource to look up questions I have when using Lightroom 2.

In the SIG I also discussed plugins for Photoshop from Kodak and Alien Skin Software. They are:

Alien Skin makes 4 of the filters, Exposure, Blowup, Image Doctor 2 and Snap Art. They can be found on the Alien Skin web site, http://www.alienskin.com/.

Restore Original Color is found on the Kodak, Austin Texas site, http://asf.com/products/plugins/rocpro/pluginROCPRO/. I showed an older version that is no longer available. The Pro version is the only one that is available but if you want to do photo restoration on photos that have lost their color, this filter is well worth the investment. There is no comparable way to match it's effect.

Photoshop Actions on the Internet

Photoshop Actions both free and not free can be found at the following web sites:

http://addictedtodesign.com/free_photoshop_actions.html

http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm

http://www.shutterfreaks.com/

http://www.panosfx.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Adobe

HDR Imaging

Information on HDR (High Dynamic Imaging) and the software Photomatrix Pro can by found on http://www.hdrsoft.com/.

Comparisions I did comparing HDR images created in Photomatrix Pro and Photoshop CS3 can be found at http://stans-photos.smugmug.com/gallery/5025687_guR6P#301741405_mQj2t.

Action for Sharpening an Image Using the High Pass Filter

This is an action to sharpen an image in Photoshop using the High Pass Filter,

An Action To Flatten a Layered File

This is an action to flatten a layered file in Photoshop.

Action to Resize, Sharpen and then Flatten

This is a single action combining previous actions that will first resize, then sharpen using the High Pass filter and then flatten the image.

Simple Action for Resizing

This video shows a simple action for resizing an image in Photoshop to a width of 1024 pixels.

Using Photoshop's Shear Filter

This is the first of what I hope will be more video tutorials. How many that will be posted will depend on the time available to create them. I hope you enjoy this and those that follow.

Simulated Lighting Revised

1. Open scene where you want to add simulated lightning
a. Set foreground color to i. H - 215 ii. S – 36 iii. B – 33
2. Add New Layer to make the scene look stormier.
3. Choose the Gradient Tool > Linear Foreground to Transparent
a. Drag from the top to the bottom
4. Change Blend Mode of this layer to Multiply
a. Reduce Opacity to 80%
5. Add New Layer named Lighting
6. Default colors
7. Gradient Tool > Foreground to Background
a. Drag across small distance on a slight angle
8. Filter > Render > Clouds (new)
9. Filter > Render > Difference Clouds - note: you can press Ctrl + F to reapply this filter until you get the look you want.
10. Levels – move Midtone slider to ~ 3.66
11. Invert, Ctrl+I
12. Levels – Mid-tone slider to the right to make black
13. Change to Screen Mode
14. Hue/Sat – check Colorize
15. Move slider to the right 15.
16. Delete the unwanted "strikes" either paint them with black or select them with Marquee slection tool then Delete.
17. When you have a single strike and want to create a branch with the rectangleur Marquee select lower part of the lighting
18. Crtrl+J to copy selection to a layer
19. Use Ctrl + T, Free Transform to change size and move into a position to attach it to the main strike.

There you have it.

Creating Textured Wood in Photoshop

This technique works in Elements as well as all releases of Photoshop

1. Open new document
2. Add a new layer name wood (Alt+New Layer icon allows you to name the layer)
3. Fill Layer with dark wood - R102, G53, B26
4. Filter > Noise > Add Noise
5. Amount - 90, Uniform, Monocromatic
6. Filter > Blur > Motion Blur
7. Angle 0 degrees, Distance -85
8. Stretch sideways to apply the filter to the whole layer using
9. Free Transform + Alt and drag the right side to the right. By holding the Alt key when dragging the left side is expanded to the left as well.
10. Adjustment > Levels – bring in the white point to the left and the black point to the right until you get the wood look you desire.
11. This will give you a smooth wood look. You can add texture after the next step.
12. Photoshop Liquify is at the Top of the Filter menu as an item in Elements go to Filter > Distort > Liquify
13. In the big dialog box the top tool in the toolbox is the distort tool. With a big brush drag this from left to the right to create the wavy wood textue tool. Do this over the entire image. Experiment with the 3rd and 4th tool that swirls the wood. Play with some of the other tools as well.
14. To get a textured wood look Copy this layer to a new layer and name Texture
15. Filter > Render > Lighting Effects
16. Settings are:
17. Default;
18. Directional;
19. In lighting box drag black spot at the end of the line to inside of the top left corner. Draging it in toward the center lightens the image. Drag to suit;
20. At the bottom of the box is box labeled Texture Channel. Click the down arrow and choose the Blue channel. You can experiment with the other channels; for a rough texture leave the setting between Flat and Mountainous. For less texture move the slider to the left toward flat. White is High should be checked.
21. Click OK

You now should have a nice wood image to use in a variety of ways.

Creating a Soft Focus Look on a Model

With the original non-sharpened image open

1. Filter Convert for Smart Objects
2. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur - Radius of about 10-15
3. Click OK
4. If you double click the small icons on the right of the Gaussian Blur layer you will bring up the Blending Options box.
   a. Change the Blending mode to Lighten and reduce opacity to about 70%
5. Add another Gaussian Blur layer the same as Step 2
   a. change the blending mode to Darken
   b. reduce Opacity to 60%.
6. On the mask for the Blur filter paint with black on the eyes, eyebrow, mouth and the nose to remove the soft focus from these areas.

Slective Sharpening Using Smart Objects

1. Open image to be sharpened - works well on portraits. I used a model.
2. Use the Spot healing brush to correct skin blemishes- no use sharpening skin blemishes.
3. Filter Menu chose Convert for Smart Filters
4. Click OK in the next dialog box
5. I used the Smart Sharpen filter found in Filters > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen
6. In the Smart Sharpen dialog box I used Lens Blur in the Remove option.
7. Adjust amount and radius to sharpen image. I used 180 as the amount and 1 as the Radius.
8. Note that the skin pores is sharpened which we don't want.
9. In the Shadow tab you can reduce the sharpening effects in the shadows or the highlights. Noise is most noticeable in shadows so you can use this feature to reduce the sharpening in the shadow areas. I chose about 60% Fade Amount
10. Click OK and notice the filter shows a mask Smart Filter. As with any mask you can paint with black to remove. Click in the Mask and you get a border around the mask indicating the mask is active.
11. Gradually paint on the face to remove sharpening from the face.

You now have selectively sharpened the image.

Luminosity Blend Mode

The Luminosity blend mode creates the same result as the “color” mode if the layers are reversed, i.e. the color layer is underneath. The luminosity values within an RGB image have a number of useful applications. The luminosity values can be extracted from an RGB image (from the channels palette) and saved as an alpha channel, used as a layer mask or pasted as an independent layer above the layer.

Increase contrast using Luminosity

To increase an image's contrast using the Luminosity Blend Mode, with the image open

1. Load the luminosity of the image by, in the Channels palette Ctrl+click the RGB channel.
2. Control+J to copy the luminosity as a layer and name lighten.
3. Change the lighten layer's blend mode to Screen. This lightens the highlights.
4. To increase contrast we now want to darken the shadows.
5. Click the Background layer and load the luminosity by Ctrl+Click on the RGB channel as in step 1.
6. Inverse the selection by Shift+Ctrl+I
7. Ctrl+J to load the selection to a layer and name darken.
8. Change blend mode to Multiply.
9. The image's contrast has been increased.

Photoshop Smart Objects

Photoshop Smart Objects Mean Never Having to Say You're sorry is the title of a Creative Pro article on Smart Objects. This article can be accessed by clicking on
http://www.creativepro.com/article/photoshop-smart-objects-mean-never-having-say-youre-sorry
In the article is a link to download the images used in the tutorial. The link is Smart_Files.zip. Click on this link in the article to download the files.
If for some reason the link to the article doesn't work, do a Google search on "smart_files.zip".

Nik Software Viveza

The link to Nik Software's Viveza is http://www.niksoftware.com/viveza/usa/entry.php.
You will find good video tutorials if you click on the Lessons link on this site.

Adjusting for Improper White Balance

This technique works in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.
Open the image that is off color.
If it is not badly off color and there are off color areas which should be white (the highlights) or black (the shadows) use the White Point / Black Point method of color correction. This is:

1. Add a Levels Adjustment Layer.
   
2. To find the area that is the lightest in the image which should be white, press the ALT key and press the Highlight slide (the one on the right). The image should go black.
   
3. Drag the slider to the left until a light area appears. This area will be the whites part of the image. Remember where that is.
   
4. Move the slider back to the right and Click the Highlight eyedropper, the right of 3 eyedropers on the right side under Options.
   
5. Click on the area that you found to be the whitest in step 3 and click here with the Highlight eyedropper. You can open the Info palette and you can see the R, G, B valuses as you move the cursor around in the image. When you are at the lightest or brightest part of the image the numbers will be the highest. Clickin in this area will set this area of the image to 255,255,255 or white and neutralize the highlights.


6. To neutralize the blacks you follow the same procedure described in steps 2-5 but Alt+drag the black point. The image goes white and the first area to appear is the darkest area of the image. Use the Shadow Eyedropper (the one on the left) and click on the dark area, making this area 0,0,0, neutralizing the shadows.
   
7. With an image that is not far off color, making the highlights and shadows neutral all tones in between should be correct.
   
8. The middle eyedropper is the midtone eyedropper and if there is a neutral gray, 128, 128, 128, you could click this area with the midtone eyedropper and the midtones would be neutralized, removing any color casts.

Most of the time it is difficult to find an area that is a neutral gray, 128, 128, 128 so the following technique works well in these cases.

1. With the image open duplicate the background and make the duplicate layer the active layer.
2. Go Filter > Blur > Average. This filter averages all the color in the image and changes the image to show this averaged color. This color should be a neutral gray. To make it neutral,
3. Add a Levels Adjustment layer.
4. Click in the image with the middle eyedropper, the midtone eyedropper.
5. This adjusts the tones on this layer to neutral gray. Click OK
6. In the Layers palette click the eye next to the background copy layer (now adjusted to be gray) to turn if off or hide it.
7. The Levels adjustment layers adjusts all layers under it so the adjustments you set to neutralize the background copy layer will be applied to the background, effectively neutralizing the midtones.


8. The image should now look color correct.
   
9. If the highlights or shadows still show a color cast you can apply the white point/black point method described earlier.
10. The following images shows the before an after using this technique. Also shown is the Layers palette showing the layers. Layer 1 is the background copy with the Blur > Average filter applied.
    
11. Image Before

Simulating Rain

1. Image that you want to add simulated rain
2. Create a New layer name Rain
3. Filter > Noise > Add Noise
a. Amount 95, Mono, Uniform
4. Adjustments > Levels –
a. Move black slider to 71 to increase contrast
5. Blur > Gaussian Blur
a. Radius - .5
6. Blur > Motion Blur
a. Angle 63, 49 amount
7. Filter > Artistic > Plastic Wrap
a. Highlight strength 20,
b. Detail - 14,
c. Smoothness - 3
8. Filter > Other > High Pass
a. Radius = 72
9. Re-apply Motion Blur same settings
10. Blending Mode of Rain Layer set to Hard Light
11. On Background – Adjustments > Levels and move midpoint slider to the to right to darken the image to intensify the rain
12. On Rain Layer – Adjustments > Levels move highlight slider to left to lighten rain
13. Marquee Select bottom of anything like the bottom of a building that would reflect in the foreground
14. Ctrl+J to Copy to new layer
15. Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical
16. Move down and so it sits on pavement
17. Change blending mode to Soft Light
18. Erase reflection from any table tops

Simulated Lighting

1. Open scene where you want to add simulated lightning
a. Set foreground color to
i. H - 215
ii. S – 36
iii. B – 33
2. Add New Layer –
3. Choose the Gradient Tool > Linear Foreground to Transparent
a. Drag from the top to the bottom
4. Blend Mode of this layer to Multiply
a. Reduce Opacity to 80%
5. Add New Layer named Lighting
6. Default colors
7. Gradient Tool > Foreground to Background
a. Drag across small distance on a slight angle
8. Filter > Render > Difference Clouds
9. Levels – move Midtone slider to ~ 3.66
10. Invert, Ctrl+I
11. Levels – Mid-tone slider to the right to make black
12. Change to Screen Mode
13. Hue/Sat – check Colorize
14. Move slider to the right
15. For a lighting branch select a Marquee and select lower part of the lighting
16. Crtrl+Shift+J to cut selection to a layer etc.
17. Use Ctrl + T, Free Transform to change size and move into a position to attach it to the main strike.

Liquid Resize Resizing Filter

the Liguid Resize resizing filter is available as a free preview from onOne software, http://www.ononesoftware.com/

Adobe TV

Learning tutorials on all Adobe products are found at Adobe TV, http://tv.adobe.com/

Photoshop Express

You can try or sign on for Adobe Photoshop Express Beta
at https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html.
Instructions for using Photoshop Express can be found at
http://www.photoshopexpresstechniques.com/

Lightroom 2 Beta

Instructional videos on Lightroom 2 Beta by Julieanne Kost of Adobe are abvailable from http://www.workshopsondemand.com/ps_lightroom/lrb2_p01/
The videos are three parts. Change p01 to p02 and p03 for the 2nd and 3rd parts.

The public Beta of the free Lightroom 2 is available from Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/

Links to Web sites mentioned in the March SIG

The plugin filter used in the Orchid sketch can be found at http://www.redfieldplugins.com/filterFractalius.htm

The Actions and Effects of old paper and others can be found at http://www.panosfx.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Actions for Photoshop and Effects for Elements that include Layer Mask http://www.shutterfreaks.com/

Displacement Maps

This filter is very complex. It is mainly used to have a design that appears on a three-dimensional surface take the shape of that surface. To do this it reads a second image called a displacement map and moves every pixel in the filtered image according to the values in the displacement map. White and black pixels in the displacement map have the most effect. They cause the pixels to be moved the maximum amount in opposite directions. A middle gray value in the displacement map causes no movement. You can use any grayscale or color image as your displacement map so long as it is saved in the Photoshop format. You simulate the bumpy effect of a natural surface by using the surfaces themselves to create the displacement map.

In the SIG I demonstrated an effect similar to painting large text on a fence, an effect of painting a flag on a brick wall, a flag on a cloth background and creating a reflection of a boat in the water. With the exception of the boat reflection I started with either the large text or the flag as a layer (layer 1) on the wood fence or brick wall background.

1. Open your image to be used as a surface and use it to create the Displacement map.

2. To do so, change the Mode to Grayscale, Image > Mode > Grayscale.

3. Then blur using Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, about 2-5 pixels will do depending on the image size.

4. Save this image in PSD format on your hard drive.

5. Open the image you want to place on the textured background and
Filter > Distort > Displace

6. In the dialog box enter a number in Horizontal and Vertical Scale of 10% for starters. many times it is a good idea to create a few maps with different settings to see what works best.

7. Select Tile and Wrap around.

8. Click OK and you will get a box asking to open a displacement map file. Choose the one you created and saved and click OK.

Your image should now be distorted to conform to the textured surface.

9. To get a more dramatic effect add the original texture as layer 1 on the image and change the Blend mode of this layer to Hard Light

In the example of compositing a sailboat on a water scene and creating the boat’s reflection, the boat was selected from it’s background and moved into the water scene as layer 1.

1. To create the reflection, copy the boat to a new layer and

2. Image > Rotate > Flip Layer Vertical

3. Move this layer down with the Move tool so it is looks like the reflected boat.

4. Now to displace the reflection to confirm to the water, use the Rectangle tool to select an area of the background water under the reflected boat and

5. Edit > Copy. Keep the selection active.

6. File New to create a new file. The size will be the size of the copy in the clipboard by default.

7. Edit > Paste the water to the new image and

8. Layer > Flatten.

9. Blur using Gaussian blur about 2-4 depending on the overall image size.

10. Save in PSD format as you displacement map.

11. Back to the boat and water image, with the selection active and the boat layer active,
Filter > Distort > Displace.

12. I set the Horizontal scale about 15 and the Vertical scale to 5.

13. After clicking OK select the saved displacement map.

The boat should now be distorted to confirm with the water.

Installing Layer Masks in Elements

1. Go to http://www.shutterfreaks.com/
2. Click on Photoshop Elements Actions
3. Click Photoshop Elements 6
4. Click **FREE** actions for Photoshop Elements
5. Scroll down to the bottom and you'll find Layer Masks
6. Click on the link "Layer Masks"
7. Download ZIP file for Elements 6
8. After you download the Zip file the instructions say to unzip to a temporary folder on your hard drive, then follow instructions in the Read Me file.
9. There are other instructions and information on how to use Layer Masks on the page that contains the ZIP file for downloading.

Pen and Ink Art

1. Open your image - best used on simple image with good contrast
2. Duplicate background layer
3. Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color
4. Filter > Adjustments > Invert (ctrl + I) to Invert
5. Filter > Blur > Smart Blur > Edge Only >
6. High Radius ~ 12
7. Threshold ~ 65
8. Ctrl+I to Invert again for black lines on a white. background
9. For an added effect duplicate the background layer again.
10. This copy layer would be under the Smart Blur layer and above the background.
11. Filter > Artistic > Cutout
12. Number of Levels – 5
13. Edge Simplicity – 3
14. Edge Fidelity – 21
15. Click OK
16. Change blending mode to Multiply

Simple Pencil Sketch

1. Open your image
2. Convert to Grayscale - Image > Mode > Grayscale
3. Duplicate background by draging the background to the New Layer Icon or Ctrl+J
4. Filter > Adjustments > Invert (Ctrl+I)
5. Change the Blending mode to Color Dodge
6. Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur
a. 4.5 pixes approximately
b. increase to 8
8. In Undo History Revert back to original color image
9. Redo the steps but don’t convert to grayscale
10. You now have a colored pencil sketch

Good Use of Dissolve Layer Blend Mode

1. With file open that contains an object on a layer in my case it is the Ferrari.
2. Create a new layer and set the foreground color to a dark blue and the background color a darker blue.
3. With the Gradient tool set to reflected gradien drag from the center up about half way.
4. Load car (object) as a selection by clicking on the layer icon with the Ctrl key pressed.
5. Select Menu > Modify > Border > 50 pixels
6. Create new layer and Fill selection with white – Note the edges are soft
7. Change Blend mode to dissolve
8. Create new layer beneath dissolve layer to make the dissolve layer an normal blend.
9. With dissolve layer active Merge down the dissolve layer to the blank layer
10. Filter > Blur > Radial Blur > Zoom > 100
11. This is still grainy so Ctrl+F to apply Zoom again
12. Create a duplicate layer and drag under the car so we have light beams in front and behind the car.
13. On the copy layer Add Outer Glow effect and change blend to Overlay
14. Select top layer and change to Overlay
15. Add text
16. Add drop shadow or other layer styles
17. Reduce Fill in Layers to 0

Seam Carving - Image Resizing

Video showing image resizing using "Seam Carving" can be viewed by clicking here.

HumanSoftwar's new plugin filter XFile V2 for Photoshop uses "Seam Carving" can be found on the HumanSoftware web site, http://www.humansoftware.com/pages1200/XFile/HSxfil0.html

The site for online image resizing using "Seam Carving" is http://rsizr.com/. This is free.

The Fractalius Plugin filter link was placed on this blog earlier but to help find it I've added it again, http://www.redfieldplugins.com/

Posterized Photo of the Mabry Mill

Creating a Posterization Like the Photo Shown Above

1. With color image open change to black/white using Images > Adjustments > Convert to black and white.
2. Change background color to black
3. Increase Canvas size on the left only by 20% using Image > Canvas Size. Put 20 in width box, percent, in adjacent box and check Relative. Alternatively you can use the crop tool to crop the entire image and then drag the left handle to the left about 20 %.
4. Using the rectangle margee tool select a rectangle in the newly created additional canvas.
5. With Default colors drag select the Linear Gradient, Foreground to Background and drag from the top of the selected rectangle to the bottom. Holding the shift key will limit the drag to a straigt line.
6. Image menu > Adjustments > Posterize (near the bottom of the menu)
7. Select 7 levels. This is a level each for the primary rgb colors, the cmy secondary colors and black. This creates 7 boxes of 7 different tones in the selected rectangle.
8. With the Magic Wand, tolerance 0f 10 and Contigious not checked click in the lightest (white) area.
9. Add a new Layer and with this layer active select a color from the Swatches palette. Note that the upper 6 colors in the Swatches palette are rgb and cmy.
10. Use Alt + Backspace key to fill the selected area on this layer with the selected color.
11. Add a new layer
12. Make the background layer active and click on the next lightest color in the tone boxes.
13. Make the new layer active, select another color and fill the selection with the selected color.
14. Add a new layer
15. Make background layer active and click on the next lightest color and repeat steps 13 and 14.
16. Repeat the above until you have selected the 6 tones other than black and filled each layer with a color.
17. Crop your final image.

Photoshop Plugin Filters

Filter Type
There are three main types of filters.

A one step filter applies the filter with no user control. You cannot specify any specific action of the filter it does whatever it does and it's done.
A parameter filter give you choices. You need to set sliders or controls to specify what the filters will do. They can be spotted because they have (....) after their names.
A mini-application filter is a filters that enables you to save and recall settings and creates its own environment inside of Photoshop. Many third-party filters are many-apps.

The Filter Menu – Effects Palette

Photoshop's media filters appear on the filters menu in 13 categories and this hasn't changed since version 3. At the bottom of the menu filter lists will be a line and under this any third-party filters that have been added.

Artistic Set

1. Colored Pencil takes an image or selection and stylized as it to resemble, supposedly, colored pencils on neutral paper stock. In reality, the filter uses the predominant colors in the image and removes areas that it changes to the paper color depending upon the parameter settings. It is color dependent the background color that is the “ brightness” color.

2. The Cutout filter, is an enhancement of the Posterize command that simplifies the colors of your image into the number of levels that you request.

3. Dry Brush imitates the traditional dry brush technique of dragging a loaded Photoshop brush until it runs out of paint. The edges aren't aliased and hard, through the internal shading will retain the variations in soft shadings.

4. Film Grain looks good when used on text but it's not especially attractive as a special advanced filter.

5. Fresco is very similar to the Dry Brush filter but it intensifies the contrast in the image and makes the darks much bolder good for abstracting an image in sharpening the contrast.

6. Neon Glow is extremely color dependent. It reacts to the settings of the foreground and background colors into a third colors selected in the filter itself. Pick contrasting colors for the most noticeable results.

7. Paint Daubs is supposed to look like spots of paint. It doesn't. Some settings can give pleasing results.

8. Palette Knife can make your image looked if it's been painted using a palette knife using the correct settings and if you want to palette knife to be perfectly flat on the canvas. It can be combined with other filters like Crystallize or Emboss.
a.Open image
b.Copy to Layer
c.Background > Emboss Filter
.d Copy Layer > Palette Knife
1.Settings top to bottom are 50, 3, 02.
2. Change Blending mode to Hard Light

9. Plastic Wrap can be used to give a shine to a portion of your image but I've never seen it used effectively. It does worked fairly well to enhance simple line art graphic or when used on text.

10. The Poster Edges filter posterizes the image in its own colors and adds black detail around the edges all settings produce visible changes in the image is can be good for a would cut-type look.

11. Rough Pastels A very complex filter with a large number of parameters that can very the most critical parameters a texture itself, which makes an enormous difference to the final result. The pastels rub off on the high parts of the texture the darks.

12. Smudge Stick looks if you took a towel and smudged a chalk or pastel drawing. It is a fairly good texture-generating filter when used on a blank image as has had noise added.

13. The Sponge filter looks like someone is daubing paint on the image and is one of the more successful stylizing filters. This makes a wonderful grained paper effect when applied repeatedly to a solid color image.

14. Underpainting filter. Using a canvas texture and a small brush with the highest texture coverage you get an image so real that you think the paint was still wet. It looks the way it would if you had sketched in the details with thin oils on a canvas.
a.Image file open
b.Copy to a new layer
c.Filter > Underpainting
e.0, 40, Brick, 100%, 4, Bottom
f. Copy bkgrd to a new layer on tope. Adjustment Layer Mask and hide all
g. Paint in details.

15. Watercolor is supposed to make an image look as if it was painted with watercolors. It doesn't. The Watercolor filters results are very similar to the Fresco filter, but the Fresco filter adds more outlining around the edges of the shape it identifies. It intensifies the dark areas in the image far too much and the final colors are extremely strong.

Blur Filters

The Blur filters are used to reduce the difference in color between nearby pixels the blur and blur more should be ignored because they don't give you any control.

1. The Average filter averages the colors in the image and might be useful for creating backgrounds.

2. Gaussian Blur is one of the most useful and basic filters. It is used to soften the differences between nearby pixels and to help remove grain.
a. To Simulate depth of field
1.Open an Image that you would to show has selective focus or Depth of Field
2.Dupe the background
3.Filter > Gaussian Blur, setting to suite.
4.Add adjustment layer and create a mask
5.Paint with a Linear, Black/White Gradient in the mask starting where you wish the blur to start.
b. A special effect that some call gives an "ivory painting" look. Works best on a portrait.
1.Open image
2. Duplicate Layer
3. change blending mode to darken
4. background layer active
5. Gaussian blur
a.R-12

3. Motion Blur adds motion to an image. I showed a race car that had the car selected and the selection saved.
a.The background was copied to a layer
b. A layer mask was added. (See notes on adding a layer mask in Elements)
c. Add motion blur to top layer
d. Load selection and fill with black , hiding the blur on this layer.

4. Radial Blur is a special effects filter and can be very useful in emulating taking a photo on long exposure while zooming a lens.
a. To blur car wheels, select the wheel and copy to a layer.
b. Load the selection by ctrl+click the layer.
c. Filter > Blur > Radial Blur > Spin and move the center to the approximate position relative to the image. Click OK
d. If it isn’t at the center, undo and try again.

5. Zoom
a. Image open, copy the center of interest to a layer and the select Zoom from the Radial Blur box, centering the zoom behind the layered object.

6. Smart Blur is only with in the area bordered by an edge. Useful for portraits were you don't want to blur facial blemishes.

Brush Strokes

This class of filter is best used to stylize an image or to create texture. All of these filters work wonderfully on a blank image that he has had the Add Noise filter run on it try this as the start of many exciting textures.
1. Accented Edges is similar to the Find Edges filter but it can be used to give more texture to an image hence it the reason is in the Brush Strokes category. It looks best with the Edge Width Very small. At the small edge width, but with maximum brightness and smoothness, you almost feel if you're looking at liquid colored chrome.

2. Angle Strokes makes an image look as if diagonal brush strokes of oil paints of them been applied to a canvas.

3. Crosshatch can create lovely textures. The filter can make an image looked as if a brush was stroked at angles on a campus. You can also give the impression of a random weave.

4. Dark Strokes is similar to the angled strokes but you cannot see the brush strokes clearly not a favorite of mine.

5. Ink Outlines is very similar to the Dark Strokes filter but you have control of the stroke. It also performs a sort of find edges that can be attractive on some images.

6. Spatter can help to enhance a simple line art graphic and looks good when used on text.

7. Sprayed Strokes can't help to enhance a simple line art graphic. I like to use it to put an edge on an image.
a. Open image.JPEGs
b. Changed to a layer
c. add white background
d. add adjustment later
e. makes selection
f. Fill a border with black
g. Add Sprayed Strokes filter followed by Pixelate > Crystallize

8. Sumi-e is a calligraphy filter that works very well with special effects and with text I seldom use it.

Channel Masking in Photoshop

An extremely quick and effective method for selecting a subject with a reasonable color contrast to the surrounding pixels is to create a mask and then to load this mask as a selection.

1. Click on each channel to see which channel offers the best contrast, white and black.
2. Duplicate this channel by dragging it to the new Channel icon.

Depending on the channels contrast you can do one of the following:

Method 1 – For relatively high contrast channels

1. Apply a levels adjustment to the duplicate channel to increase the contrast of the mask.
Slide the shadows, mid-tone and highlight sliders in until the required mask is achieved.
2. The mask may not be perfect but this can be modified using the painting tools.
3. Choose a paint brush, set the opacity to 100% in the Options bar, and then paint with either black or white to perfect the mask.

Method 2 – For more complex channels and those that have soft or hair transition areas.

1. With the duplicate channel active choose Image > Apply Image and in the target box choose Multiply or Overlay to get the best black and white contrast.
2. The mask will seldom be perfect so it will need to be touched up. You can use the Levels adjustment as described in method one and then
3. Make the RGB channel active to see the image and use the Pen tool to create a path on the edges that have a relatively hard edge.
4. As you create the path and you come to an edge with an hair or an otherwise soft edges click inside the soft edge and set a point, moving inside the hair edge setting points as you go.

You should now have a path which is along the hard edge but inside the soft or hair edge.

5. Create a selection from the path using ctrl+plus the Enter.
6. Fill the selection with black using Atl+Backspace
7. With the Paintbrush paint the area in the mask that should be white. Do not paint on the transition area between the white and black that contains the soft or hairy edge.
8. You now will use levels to create the mask in the transition area. You do this by selecting a relatively small area with the Lasso tool using a Feather of about five to 10.
9. With this area selected open Levels, Cctrl+enter, Drag the Shadows slider to the right and the highlight slider to the left until you get good contrast in this area.
10. Select additional areas of the transition and adjust using Levels as in the previous step. Do this until the entire transition area has been adjusted.
11. You now have a mask that can be used to extract an area from its background. This mask can be loaded by clicking on it with the Control key or by selecting it in the select > Load Selection menu.

Plugin Filters

The Fractalius plugin filter for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements can be found at http://www.redfieldplugins.com/.

Color Efex Pro 3.0 filter set can be found at Nik Software.

Layer Masks in Elements

Using a Pattern Adjustment Layer to Blend Two Images Together

1. Have 2 images that you want to blend together into a single photo. They must be the same size, same pixel dimensions.
2. In the SIG I used lion 1 and lion 2
3. Add a Levels Adjustment Layer on Lion 1. Notice Adjustment layers have a Mask. Make a levels adjustment and click OK. If you make any adjustment with Levels you can paint with black to hide the adjustment or white to show the adjustment. Flatten to apply your adjustment.
4. Select your other image, in my case Lion 2.jpg
5. Select > All or the shortcut Ctrl+A
6. Edit menu > Define Pattern
7. In the first image, in my case Lion 1.jpg, add a Pattern Adjustment Layer. The last created pattern, Lion 2, will appear as the current pattern to be applied.
8. With Black as the Foreground color and white as the background Select the Gradient tool and drag on the Mask to blend the two images together. Start the drag where you want to stop hiding what is on this layer and stop when you want the layer fully revealed.
   

Layer Mask using an Adjustment Layer as a Clipping Group.

I used two images, one with a bald sky, Space Adventure and another with the sky I wanted to use to replace the bald sky, clouds.psd. The following are the steps taken to replace the bald sky.

1. Open Space Adventure.jpg
2. I used the Magnetic Lasso to select the foreground. You can use whatever selection tool that gives you the selection that fits your subject. You want the sky to be eventually selected. I selected the foregroud because it suited the Magnetic Lasso tool.
3. I added the trees with the Magic Wand with the Add button selected on the Options bar.
4. In the Select Menu click Add Similar to get trees that weren't selected.
5. Select Menu > Refine Edge to adjust the selection.
6. In the Select menu > Inverse to now make the sky selected
7. Select > Save selection.
8. Double click the Background to change the Background to a Layer
9. Open clouds and move with the Move tool to the space adventure image
10. Drag the clouds under the space adventure layer.
11. On Space layer add a Levels (could be any) Adjustment Layer
12. Drag the Adjustment Layer under the Space layer
13. With the Space layer active select Group with Previous to create a clipping group with the Adjustment Layer.
14. Click on Mask in the Adjustment layer and in the Select Menu load the sky selection.
15. The new sky should now replace the bald sky. If the sky replaced the foreground instead, click on the Mask and Ctrl+I key to Invert the selection.
16. You can paint on the mask with black or white to touch up your mask.
    8. Load selection in Mask

VisiSketchPro

A new program called VisiSketchPro was demostrated at the Photoshop SIG. This program is designed to build animations of just about any image one can imagine. VisiSketchPro is now available from http://www.visisketchpro.com/. It will be demostrated again at the Photoshop Elements SIG on 1-16.

Creating Starburst glints of light in Photoshop

Here is a nice effect that looks like the sun glinting off a metallic or shiny surface. This starburst effect even includes a little lens flare. A tasteful replacement for the sometimes over used lens flare filter.

1. First thing we need to do is create a new document, 600 X 600 pixels.
a. Set my background to black to that you can see the white glint that you will prepare.
2. Create a new layer and choose the line tool (Hidden under the rectangle shape tool in the toolbox)
a. Choose 2 pixels and the draw pixel option from the options bar
3. Set white as your foreground color
4. Draw a short dash (A) (About 170 pixels). Hold the Shift key to constrain the rotation to a horizontal line
5. Choose Filter>Blur>Motion Blur
6. Add enough distance to get a nice tapered look.
a. Make sure the angle matches the angle of the line.
7. Duplicate the Layer with the dash on it
8. Press Ctrl (Windows+T) for free transform
9. Rotate the dash while holding down shift to constrain the rotation
10. Choose both dash Layers and press Ctrl/Cmd+E to merge them (On version CS and earlier, choose the top layer and press Ctrl/Cmd+E to merge with the layer beneath) Careful not to merge with background
11. Duplicate the merged dash layer (Ctrl +J)
12. Press Ctrl/Cmd+T for free transform
13. Rotate 45 deg, grab a corner point and scale toward the center to make the new star smaller (hold down alt+shift to scale from center and constrain)
14. You now have your starburst and you may be happy right here.
15. Create a new Layer
16. Grab the elliptical marquee tool (circular selection tool)
17. Create a selection over the starburst
18. Choose Edit>Stroke Choose a 1 pixel white stroke
19. Deselect
20. Filter>Blue>Gaussian Blur to soften the effect
21. Merge the 3 layers together by selecting them and Ctrl+E to merge.

virtualPhotographer by OptikVerve Labs

virtualPhotographer is a free plugin for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. It can be downloaded FREE from the OptikVerve Labs web site, http://www.optikvervelabs.com/default.asp.