If you find you are always emptying your Deleted Items folder in Outlook 2007 before you exit the program, you can have Outlook do this automatically for you.
To do this, choose Tools > Options > Other tab. Enable the ‘Empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting’ checkbox and click Ok.
Now you won’t have to do this – just choose File > Exit and it will be done automatically.
Labels: empty deleted items folder automatically, exit, Outlook 2007
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For scrapbook projects, photo crafting and other creative uses you can achieve a cool effect for your photos by clipping your favorite images into shapes. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1
Open an image and make the background layer a regular layer by double clicking it in the Layer palette and click Ok.
From the Photoshop’s Custom Shapes collection, select a shape and set the Shape tool to Fill Pixels in the Tool Options palette – ignore the color that you have selected for now. 
Step 2
Add a new layer to the image by choosing Layer > New > Layer and drag to create the shape on that layer. Use the Move tool to rotate the shape, size and move it. 
Step 3
Drag the background layer above the shape layer. Select the top layer and choose Layer > Create Clipping Mask to mask the image to the shape. 
Step 4
Add a drop shadow or other effect to the shape layer to set it aside from the background. You can also add a new background layer and fill it with a color or texture to show off the image.
If you drag the shape into a different position in the image using the Move tool or scale it, you will reveal more or less of the top image.
Labels: clipping images. scrapbooking, images into shapes
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© Iryna Kurhan,istockphoto.com
Hold your camera in both hands as you shoot to steady it and to ensure your shot is in focus.
When you are photographing, take care to hold the camera steady so your photos won’t be blurred.
Hold your camera in both hands and position your arms close to your body with your elbows tucked in to form a solid foundation for supporting the camera.
Press the shutter release half way down and pause to let the camera’s auto focus system focus on the subject.
Then press the shutter the rest of the way down to capture the image.
If possible, hold your breath as you do this, to avoid the movement which would otherwise occur if you breathe in and out as you are taking the shot.
Labels: better photos, hold the camera, tip
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Here is a video presentation of a recent blog post on fixing animal eyes in Lightroom.
How to use the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom to fix dull and dark animal eyes.
I am working on changing the size of the videos. A few of these were made for a special job and they are different sizes than I would actually want to use in future. I am aiming for some that are taller than this and narrower so they fit in the post layout more comfortably.
Labels: fixing animal eyes, Lightroom, video tutorials
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My camera seems to shoot consistently on the side of underexposing images and while sometimes an exposure adjustment will solve the problem I often need a stronger fix.
This is when Lab color can help out. This color mode has special characteristics in that it can handle very bright colors differently than RGB mode does and it can be used to boost brightness in an image while at the same time ensuring that color isn’t lost when you do this using screen blend mode. Here is a simple fix for underexposed images – if you like it you can create it as an action so all you have to do is run the action then tweak the opacity of the top layer to get the result you want.
Step 1
Right click the background layer of the image and choose Duplicate Image. Choose Image > Mode > LAB Color and select Don’t Flatten.
Step 2
Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels and click Ok twice. This applies a levels adjustment with no change to the image. Set the layer blend mode to Screen.
Step 3
Select the Levels adjustment layer in the layer stack and choose Layer > Merge Down to merge this layer into the layer below. Choose Image > Mode > RGB Color and select Don’t Flatten to return to RGB Color with both layers intact.
Step 4
Right click the top layer (it’s the duplicate background layer) and choose Duplicate Layer and click Ok.
Select the middle of the three layers and set its blend mode to Luminosity.
Select the topmost layer and set its blend mode to Color.
Adjust the opacity of the top layer until you get an acceptable amount of color in the image.
Labels: blend mode, exposure adjustment, unexposed images
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Place objects at the intersection of lines on an imaginary noughts and crosses board for a more interesting image.
When you are composing your photograph have in mind the principles of the rule of thirds. This rule suggests that you draw an imaginary noughts and crosses board over the photograph that you are about to capture. Where the lines intersect is a good place to position the subject of your image.
For example, if someone’s eyes are located where the lines intersect you will get a much more interesting photo than if the person is positioned dead centre of the photograph.
In addition, placing the horizon along one of the lines of the noughts and crosses board is more interesting than placing it across the middle of the photo.
Simply moving your camera a little bit to the right or left, or up or down can be the difference between a so-so image and one which looks much better.
Labels: better photos, composition, Rule of thirds, tip
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New for the New Year!
I am trialling some videos for the site and here is the first of them.
It is a video rendition of a recent post from my blog, but this time you get to see it in action rather than read about it.
This video shows a simple and effective way to replace a blown out sky in Photoshop without having to make a complex selection to do so.
Let me know by posting a comment if you like the concept of viewing video tutorials. I plan to offer a mix of both videos and text but I’d love to hear what you think.
Labels: 10 photoshop interface features, fix a sky, LAB color, video tutorials
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Blog reader Mark Mayer approached me recently to ask what he could do with some images which are overexposed. He asked “I am a point and shoot camera user and like many of my friends we often take pictures that have too much sun. Although I know taking a picture facing towards the sun isn’t ideal, it’s hard to always line up the right shot”.
Mark is right. Not all of us have great digital SLRs with us all the time and we’re not always able to move into the right place to take a shot. So, if you’ve got a less than well exposed image that you like, how will you fix it?
Here is a simple fix. Depending on how much time you’re willing to spend on the image you can stop after step 2 or go on. Even if you go all the way through the fix it will take you less than five minutes. So, in my book, that’s worth the effort.
Step 1
The simplest place to start salvaging an image like this is to make a duplicate of the background layer by right clicking the layer and choose Duplicate Layer. Set the layer blend mode to Multiply.
Step 2
If the fix is too much you can adjust the opacity of this top layer downwards to get the result you like.
However, you can get even better results with a mask. Read on…
Step 3
While the duplicate a layer and set the blend mode to Multiply method is a good way to salvage an overexposed image it doesn’t work perfectly on this image because the overexposure is more obvious in the areas where the sun’s rays are. If you’re prepared to do a little more work you can adjust the fix to suit the image. To do this, adjust the Opacity of the top layer back to 100%.
Set the foreground color to Black and hold the Alt key as you click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the foot of the Layers palette. This adds a black filled layer mask to the layer essentially removing the fix entirely.
Switch and make white your foreground color, select a very large very soft edge brush and click on the Mask in the Layers palette and begin to brush on the fix. You’ll want the fix to be less apparent around the edges of the image and more in the area where the sunbeam is.
Step 4
You can duplicate this layer again to make a slightly more intense fix but again limiting it to where the sun’s rays are most apparent. You can also adjust the opacity of the top layer downwards if you’re getting too much of a fix.
Step 5
Once you’ve done this, you can create a flattened version of the image by clicking on the topmost layer of the image and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E to create a new layer containing the image data. Duplicate this layer so that you have two identical layers at the top of the document.
Select the topmost layer and choose Filter > Other > High Pass. We will use the High Pass Filter to sharpen the image because the image has a lot of color noise in it. Using this tool we can limit the sharpening to just the edges in the image and avoid sharpening the noisy areas.
Watch the image in the Preview dialog and adjust the Radius down until you see a greyscale image and so you cannot see any color. A Radius value of around 1.5 is sufficient for this image. Click Ok.
Step 6
Set the layer blend mode of this top layer to Soft Light to complete the sharpening.
Next time you’re taking a photo like this in strong sunlight, consider removing your sunglasses and place them over the camera lens. This lets you use the polarizing sunglasses as a filter over the camera lens and should cut the glare. You can do this with a point and shoot camera and with a camera phone. If you’re getting results like these with a digital SLR you should purchase a polarizing filter to use as you will get much better results with it.
Thank you to Mark Mayer for the images and this question! If you have questions, send me your question and a problem image with permission to use it as an example on my blog and I’ll see what I can do.
Note: Original photos are © Mark Mayer.
Labels: detail sharpening, High Pass filter, multiply blend mode, overexposed image, polarizing filter alternative, sunglasses
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In a previous post I drew inspiration from Police’s Synchronicity album cover to create a Photoshop project. This week the cover for the Nine Inch Nails album, Downward Spiral, caught my eye. If you want to see the original album cover, check it out here: http://www.musicdirect.com/products/images.php?i=-1&p=38059&h=75291 – I think it’s a great way to showcase a grungy image such as this graffiti. Here’s how to create the effect:
Step 1
Open the image and crop it to a square shape.
Add a new layer by clicking the Add New Layer icon at the foot of the layers palette and use the rectangular marquee to drag over the bottom third of the image.
Fill this selection with white by setting the foreground color to white and press Alt + Backspace or Option + Delete on the Mac. Drag the Opacity slider down to around 60 percent so that you can see some of the image through it.
Step 2
On a new layer, type one line of text in a sans serif font. I used Candara Regular and set the text color to a dark color sampled from the image itself.
Select the text, display the Character palette and drag on the Tracking slider to separate the letters so that they are spread out.
Step 3
You’ll need two lines of text so you can position them to get the effect in the bottom right corner of the album cover. The second line of text is in lower case but the same font and it does not have so much tracking applied to it. Position the two lines of text in place.
Step 4
To create the cutout you need to make a hollow rectangular selection which sounds easier to do than it is. Start by selecting the Rectangular Marquee tool and select around the first piece of text on the outer edge of what will become your final selection. Save this selection by choosing Select > Save Selection, type a name for the selection and click Ok. Choose Select > Modify > Contract and contract the selection by ten (or more) pixels depending on the size of your image.
Invert the selection by choosing Select > Inverse.
Choose Select > Load Selection, click the Intersect with Selection option, choose the channel that you just saved and click Ok.
This will select a small hollow rectangular shape on the image.
Step 5
Click on the white layer in the layer palette to select it. Hold the Alt key (Option on the Mac) as you click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the foot of the layer palette to add a layer mask to the white layer. This shows a portion of the image through the white overlay.
Step 6
Add a new layer and make sure it is selected. Select the Brush tool and select an interesting shaped brush such as the Heavy Smear Wax Crayon brush in the dry media brushes collection. With black paint, paint over the top left edge of the white overlay.
Step 7
Add a new layer and select the Pen tool. Make sure that Paths is selected on the toolbar. Draw a few lines through your paintwork. Start by clicking and dragging the first point and then click and drag multiple times to create an organic curved line. Press Enter to finish the first line. Click on the Work Path in the Paths palette to select it and then draw a second line. Continue to draw all the lines you need.
Step 8
View the Paths palette and make sure that you have a small hard-edged brush selected such as a 5-pixel brush and black paint. Click the Work Path to select it and click the Stroke Path with Brush icon at the foot of the Paths palette.
Because you are painting with black, this will give you some black lines through the painted shape.
Delete the path.
Step 9
Add a small drop shadow to this layer by clicking the Add a Layer Style icon at the foot of the layer palette and choose Drop Shadow. You can choose a lighter color for the shadow but make sure to change the blend mode to Screen if you do so.
Right-click the Drop Shadow layer style and choose Create layer. This converts the shadow into a layer of its own that you can then select the shadow layer and remove some of the drop shadow by erasing over it with a ragged shaped and partially transparent brush.
Step 10
To create a heavy black box, add a new layer and drag to create the outer edge of the box using the Rectangular Marquee tool. Fill the selection with black.
Choose Select > Modify > Contract and contract the shape by the number of pixels that you need to create the inner edge of the black border. Press the Delete key to remove the black fill from this selection.
Step 11
Use the Text tool to add text inside the box. For this text I used Gil Sans MT Condensed as it is a good thick black font which can show a lot of text in a small space.
Because the text was placed on a very dark element in the background I’ve used a drop shadow set to a lighter color sampled from the image with its blend mode set to Screen. By setting the Distance to zero, and using comparatively large values for Size and Spread, the text can be more easily read.
Step 12
Another line of text just below this box and stretched the full width of the box finishes the image. It has the same layer style applied to it as the previous layer so that it can be easily read. Instead of recreating the drop shadow layer style, right click the first text layer and choose Copy Layer Style and then right click the target layer and choose Paste Layer Style.
Reproducing interesting graphics that you see whether on album covers, in advertisements and other places is a great way to develop and polish your Photoshop skills.
Labels: nine inch nails album cover, Photoshop Creative, reproducing graphics
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One popular technique that you can apply to your photos is to turn a regular photo into a pencil sketch. Here’s a technique for doing this that uses a process for extracting lines from an image that I’ve posted about before. To see the process explained in detail visit this post: Extracting lines from a photo
http://www.projectwoman.com/2009/02/photoshop-extracting-lines-from-photo.html
Open the image and duplicate the background layer. Remove the saturation from this new duplicate layer by selecting it and choose Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Drag the Saturation slider to -100 and click Ok.
At this stage if the image appears to be lacking some contrast then adjust it by choosing Image >Adjustments > Levels. Adjust the levels in the image by dragging the sliders under either end of the chart inwards to darken the darks and lighten the lights and adjust the midtone slider to get some good contrast in the image. Click Ok to accept this.
Right click the top layer, choose Duplicate Layer and click Ok. You have now have two identical layers at the top of the layer stack. Select the top most layer and press Ctrl + I to invert this layer so it looks like a photo negative. Set the blend mode of this layer to Color Dodge. This makes the image white or mostly white. With this top layer still selected choose Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and adjust the blur radius until the edges of the image appear. Select a value that gives you good edges (ignore that they are too light and focus on the lines and shading), and click Ok.
Click the topmost layer and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E to create a flattened version of the image on a new layer but without losing the existing layers in the process. Set the blend mode of this layer to Multiply. Duplicate this top layer two or three times until the image gets darker. When you achieve the result you want, select the topmost layer and press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E to create a new merged layer, while keeping the layers below too.
You’re now ready to convert this image into a sketch. 
Step 1
Choose Filter > Filter Gallery > Accented Edges. Set Smoothness to 1 and adjust Edge Width to a value of 1 or 2. Set the Edge Brightness to a value that ensures detail and texture in the image but without too much distracting grey shading. Click Ok.
Step 2
Right click on the background layer and choose Duplicate Layer and click Ok. Move this duplicate background layer to the top of the layer palette and set the blend mode to Color. Add a new blank layer below the top two layers and fill it with white. 
Step 3
Select the Eraser and select a soft brush. Select the second layer down from the top of the layer stack and erase any areas of the image you don’t want to appear. This technique can be used to remove excessive shading and any unwanted background.
Labels: pencil sketch picture
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