Lesson 6: How to Change Layer Styles

Guess what? YOU ARE ALMOST DONE. Yes, there will be many more lessons on this site, but like I said in my introduction--the essensials are lessons 2-6. These are the five things you need to know to do a basic page. And now, the last one! Actually, you can do a page already, but the stuff in this lesson is something I use on every page--it just makes it look SO much better.


Now, if you have open or have saved any of the pages you've worked on before now, use that. Otherwise, do the following.


1. Open Photoshop

2. Create a new page

3. If you have a kit you are working with, pull in a background page.

4. Pull in two pictures. Crop them, pull them into your page, and change the size.

5. Use your text tool to type a title. Make it a different color than black, and make it at least 72. (remember that when choosing a size, you can type in the size you want instead of choosing from the list. I am doing size 150.)


Here's a quick video on what I just did:

Lesson6_Starter(click to view)


Layer Styles


And now for one of the best menus in Photoshop. It's a scrapper's best friend. And that would be the layer styles menu. It's awesome. I use it on pretty much EVERY element I pull in from pictures to text to elements.





The quick way to get there is to double click on your layer. However, your layer has different parts. Whether these parts have official names, I have no idea. But you get the point. Where you doublt click in each area will get you a different menu. If you double click on the picture area you will get the layer styles menu. UNLESS it's text, and then you'll get the change text as we discussed in Lesson 5. If you you click on the title, this allows you to rename the layer--very useful if you are doing a page with LOTS of layers you need to keep track of. The blank area will also take you to the layer style menu.




So, double click on the blank area of one of your photos, to get this menu. The long way, by the way, to get to his menu is Layer, Layer Style, Blending Options.

Ok, now you may want to move the layer menu out of the way by grabbing the blue bar along the top, so you can see the layer you have highlighted and how it affects it.

Drop Shadow

Click on the drop shadow box. Then, click on the WORDS drop shadow. This will bring up new options on the right side of the menu. Here, you can change the distance, spread, and size of the shadow. This is, without a doubt, the layer option I use the most. I put a shadow on pretty much everything. Makes it look a little more 3-D.

Stroke

Now, click on the stroke box. Then the WORDS stroke. Here you can change the color of the stroke, the size, and the position. I usually change the position to center or inside, since outside leaves rounded edges I don't like. This is a great way to line your pictures with a nice border. Remember, when selecting your color, click on the red box, and you can use your color picker to select a color that matches your paper by clicking on the paper.

Click ok. Now highlight your words. Go back into the layers style menu by double clicking on the blank area of the layer.

Bevel and Emboss

Add a bevel to your words. Click on the WORDS bevel and emboss for more options. Expore them! See what you get! Try adding a shadow and stroke!

Now I want you go GO PLAY. Try out all the different options. There are many that I haven't used. Just try stuff out, and see what you get!

Here is a video of me doing these options.

Lesson6_layers2 (Click to view)

And now? You are ready to create your first page with realscrappy.blogspot.com!

Lesson 3: Manipulating Layers

What is a Layer?

One of the fundamental things you need to understand about Photoshop is it's use of layers. Every element on a page is a different layer. Think of it like a paper scrapbook--you lay down your background paper--layer one. You lay down your first picture--layer 2. You attach a button to the picture--layer three. And so on.

Now, in Photoshop, in order to move a layer, you have to have it selected. The first tool you need to be famliar with is you move tool, which looks like this:





Its the first tool on your tool bar. It does what it sounds like it does. If you have this tool selected, you can click and drag on elements to move or resize them.

1. Open Photoshop

2. Using the information from Lesson 2, go to file, new, and create a blank page.

3. Pull in several photos. Remember, after you pull them into Photoshop, you still need to pull them into your blank page you've created. (If you have CS4, remember to float all windows, as shown in the video on lesson 2) Your photos will be big and overlap eachother--that's fine for now. What you want is to just have several layers showing in your layer menu.

4. Now, on your right, you will see the layers menu. It probably looks something like this. Whatever layer you select will be gray (or blue), and that is the layer you are ready to work with. If I want to move a certain picture, I need to be sure that I have that layer selected.

Now, as you get more and more into digital scrapbooking, you will get pages with TONS of layers. It can be hard to find it on that right panel. So, if you want to select a certain layer, just right click on it and select it from the list. Then you can move it where you want.

Try selecting different layers on your page in Photoshop and moving them around--make sure you understand this concept before moving on! Its essential!

Selecting, Connecting, and Forgetting

There are a lot of other things you can do to manipulate your layer.

• Click and drag on the layer within the menu and you can change the order. Whatever layer is the highest on the list is on TOP of the layers below it. This can become important when you, say, want pictures to overlap. You can choose which layers are on top or below.


• Drag the layer on top of the trashcan icon in the lower left corner. This will allow you delete your layer.


• Hold down the ALT key and then click on your layer (in your document, not the layer menu) and drag. This will duplicate your layer.


• Hold down the CTRL key and select another layer. Now you have more than one layer selected and they will move together. Try moving them on your document and see how they go together.


• Now, with them highlighted, click on the chain link picture in the bottom of the layer menu. This has linked your highlighted layers. Now they will stay together as one layer whether you have it highlighted or not. But, you can unlink it if you choose.


• With your linked layers highlighted, press CTRL+E. Now those linked layers are one forever. You can't unlink them unless you undo it. I use this a lot to link pictures with their frames or something.

Here's a little video to show you everything we've learned about layers in this lesson!

Manipulating_Layers -Realscrappy.blogspot.com (Click to view)

Lesson 2: Opening and Manipulating Files in Photoshop

Now, let’s begin with the first one—opening and manipulating files in Photoshop. Remember that all screenshots and videos will be done in CS4, but most of it will be similar if not the same in older programs. I cannot vouch for the new CS5, since I haven’t seen it, but I’m sure it’s also quite similar.

Open Photoshop. Your screen should look something like this:



There are several toolbars to be aware of. The Options toolbar along the top, which changes according to which tool you have selected, giving you yet more options for that tool. This is what it looks like with the pointer tool selected.



Your Tool Bar, is the one on the left. You will use these tools a lot--make sure that to begin, you have the select tool chosen--that's the one in the upper left with the arrow.


The bars on the right can be changed according to what you use the most and what you need. This is really a matter of personal choice. To choose which boxes you want to show, just pull down the Window menu, and you can select which one you want.


Everyone has different preferences, but I prefer to have my History bar, Action bar, Layers, and Character. You most definitely want your layer bar showing—it should be there by default.


Now, in this lesson we are going to do two things: Create a new file, and open a file. We will also learn to set up our workspace.

Setting Up Your Workspace

Now, you can open everything you need to by going to file, open. However, when you are digitally scrapbooking, you are constantly changing the path—sometimes opening up a picture from one file, an element from a kit from another. And it’s a pain to have to pull them all up. So, I like to open the files I need, and then just pull it into my workspace. CS4 has a program called Bridge that can help you in this, but I am not going to cover it until a later entry. I want to show you a way you can do this in ALL Photoshop versions. In this video, I’m going to set up my space so that I have:

1. Open Photoshop

2. Open my pictures folder

3. Open my kit folder

4. Pull in a picture and a kit element.

5. Dealing with Floating Windows (for CS4 Only)

Organizing_Space (click to view)

Opening a New File
Now you are going to create your first page. The first thing you have to know is--what size book are you doing? Traditionally, scrapbooks are 12x12. You can get 12x12 pages printed at Costco or online--we'll talk more about that in a later post. Personally, I've converted to 81/2 x 11 pages, because the company I use to print, cherishbound.com, uses that and I like having books in an easy size to carry around and store.
So, now that you know what size you want, in Photoshop click on File, New.
Usually I go to Preset and choose U.S. Paper. This gives me an 8 1/2 x 11 page. If you want to do a 12x12 or some other size, just type it in to the width and heigh boxes. Make sure you are in INCHES and not PIXELS. You can also do a double layout at once and do a 11x17 page or a 12x24 page.
Also, make sure your resolution is set to 300. This is KEY. Sometimes the default will crop up at 72--if you keep it at 72, your page will be very small and will be blurry when printed.
Set the color mode to RGB Color, and background to White. Then press Ok.
Now you have your first page ready to go! You can pull your pictures and elements into it as shown earlier. In our next lesson, we will learn ways to manipulate the size and shape of pictures, how to manipulate layers and add text. See you there!