Lesson 11: How to make a transparent gif

I wanted to make a transparent gif for a university assignment. I found an image which was a jpeg and in Photoshop, I removed the background with the magnetic lasso tool and saved it as a gif. Here is the tutorial I used. It is quick and easy.

Before - it has a white background so you really can't see it here, sorry :(

After - now it has a transparent background and I've re-sized and flipped it obviously.

Lesson 10: How to create a colour blast effect

This effect is interesting in that it takes a regular photo, turns it black and white, then highlights a particular colour in the photo. I used a photo of my Traffic Light Salad (red, green and yellow salad). Here is the tutorial I used:

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After

Lesson 9: Whitening teeth

This is a lesson which most photographers will want to partake in. It is easy and shows how different a person's smile looks when their teeth have been whitened. I have whitened mine and my daughter's teeth in a funny photo we took during 'crazy hair day'. This is the tutorial I viewed:

Before 

After

Lesson 8: Changing hair colour

This lesson was also heaps of fun. I've altered my hair colour many different ways to see how it would look if I actually dyed it for real. Here is the video tutorial I followed:

Before (blonde streaks)

After (black) 

After (blue) 

After (brown) 

After (green) 

After (orange) 

After (pink) 

After (white)

Lesson 7: Changing eye colour

This was fun. Using the tutorial below I changed my eye colour from a dark brown to blue, then green, then vampire red. Considering the photo wasn't the best quality to begin with - I'm pretty impressed with the results...

Before (brown eyes)

 After (blue eyes)

 After (green eyes)

After (red eyes)

Lesson 6: Adding a border to your photos

Adding a border is very easy. Using the YouTube tutorial below I created a white border with a thin black edge around a photo of my son.

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After

Understanding layers

I found this YouTube video introducing layers. This video was easy to understand and explains why Photoshop creates layers and what each layer is capable of.

Lesson 5: Changing a background

Geez, this was time consuming! Obviously the more practice I have with masking and refining edges - the faster I will be and the better the end result will be. But for a first attempt, I am pretty pleased. I used a photo of John Patrick Amedori, masked him out of the image and placed him on a different background. Here is the tutorial I used at the Photoshop Cafe.

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After

Lesson 4: Red Eye Removal

This tool is very easy to use and the tutorial is extremely brief. See where the 'red eye tool' is located on the toolbars link above, click the tool and click the red section of eyes...simple!

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After

With this one, I even used the red-eye tool on the cat. Can you see the difference?

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Lesson 3: Patch Tool

The patch tool is another tool for removing something from an image where the lasso won't do. Part 1: In this image I've removed the boat from the background using just the patch tool.

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In Part 2 I've used both the patch tool and the spot healing brush. The patch tool was used to remove the people over Tony's shoulder and the spot healing brush was used to smooth the water Tony's shoulder.

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Here is a photo of me taken with my phone in the car. I used the patch tool to lighten some shadowy areas, removed one earring and some freckles, the arm of my glasses and the lines on my neck.

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Here is a YouTube tutorial on how to use the patch tool. This video is easy to understand and the film maker explains things in such a way as not to confuse you. He is easy to listen to, speaks clearly and slowly enough for you to practice along with him. I am fortunate enough to have 2 computers next to one another so had this video playing on one computer while I was following along in Photoshop on the other computer. I was so impressed by this guy's tutorials that I have subscribed to him.

Lesson 2: Blur Tool

The blur tool is great for smoothing skin tone.

Part 1: I've taken a photo of my Mum and smoothed her skin tone so it looks firmer and more even. I think the end result makes her look younger.

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After

Part 2: In this photo I've removed Steph's mole and freckles with the spot heal brush, along with the rope holding up the surfboard. With the lasso tool I removed some glare which was reflecting off her glasses, the ceiling light cover, the powerpoint on the wall and a cupboard door handle. Using both the spot heal brush and blur tool I removed and blurred the item on the table to the left of Steph. However this area needs improvement.

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Lesson 1: Lasso Tool & Spot Heal Brush

In part 1 of this lesson I used the lasso tool to remove unwanted aspects from an image. These included a large poo stain on the perch, the wing of another bird in the top right corner, the padlock on the door and the date/time stamp.

I then used the spot heal brush to remove the cage bar from the foreground.

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After

In Part 2 of this lesson I used the lasso tool and removed the bottom of the shelf bracket from the wall, the metal DVD shelf in the top right corner, a spot on the couch under the cat and the cat's collar. Then I used the spot heal brush to blur where the DVD shelf was...this needs perfecting though. As I discover new tools, I will fix this later.

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