Wednesday, March 28, 2012

CoffeeShop PowderRoom 3 Retouching Action!


I have many retouching actions (some of my favorites are Perfect Portrait 3 and 2 Minute Miracle), but I still turn to my original retouching action, CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2.  PowderRoom 2 is a great little action and is still something you should have in your action pane.

I know many of my readers love this action, but I have had many email requests to update it.  I had this action open a duplicate of your image so you could edit on the copy rather than on the original.  This sounded good at the time, but I realize it is not necessary and very annoying, and also makes it impossible to use the action to batch process images.

So I finally got my act together and updated PowderRoom 2.  Now the action runs on your original image and I also have it select your white brush at the end of the action so you can start painting on the layer masks.

The action download links are at the bottom of this post.

Using the CoffeeShop PowderRoom 3 Action:

It is important to read these instructions before using CoffeeShop PowderRoom 3. When you run the action on your image, your image will look completely untouched. You have to understand how to use layer masks to make the enhancements (see the CoffeeShop Tuturial on Layer Masks.  This action works with both color and B&W images and will run in all newer versions of PSE and and all versions of Photoshop CS.

1. Please run this action on a flattened image which has already had color/contrast correction and basic skin retouching. The skin smoothing layer will remove most minor skin issues, but deep wrinkles, hot spots, and severe blemishes need to be edited first by using the healing or clone tools. Note: To remove hot spots (light areas) caused by flash and shiny skin, use your clone tool set to darken blending mode and 50% opacity. Alt-click a clean area of skin by the hot spot and then gently brush over the lightened area to darken. Keep on brushing until the area matches the rest of the skin. To lighten areas of the skin which are too dark such as under eye circles, use your clone tool set to lighten blending mode and 50% opacity. Alt-click an area of clean skin by the dark area and then gentle brush over the dark area to lighten. This method works great to reduce the look of deep wrinkles.

2. When the action is finished your image will look untouched. You must use a soft white paintbrush in NORMAL mode (b to select the paintbrush), d (to make the default swatch colors black foreground/white background), x (to make the foreground white) to paint over the black layer masks (or directly on the layer in the case of Bright Eyes). Make sure you click to select the black layer masks BEFORE using your paintbrush on the image. If the effects are too harsh, then you can adjust the opacity of that layer OR if you want to start over, select your layer mask and edit, fill with black (or 50% gray in the Bright Eyes layer).

3. White Teeth layer: Zoom (z) in to magnify the teeth. Paint on the teeth using a soft low opacity (start with 10%) brush, staying away from the gums and lips. If the effect is too subtle, paint over the teeth again. It they become too white, then lower the opacity of that layer.

4. White Whites layer: This layer is useful to remove red from tired/allergy eyes and whiten the whites. Use a low opacity (10%) soft white brush and gently brush over the eye whites until the redness is gone and the whites are whitened. Adjust the opacity of that layer to taste.

5. Eye Define layer: This layer will sharpen the eyes and lashes. Use a soft white brush set to 100% opacity and brush over the eyes and the eye lashes. Then adjust the opacity of that layer to taste. The eyes will look darker, but the next step will brighten them.

6. Bright Eyes layer: This is the layer where you lighten the iris. Select a soft low opacity (10%) white brush and gently paint over the iris in each eye, trying to avoid the pupil, rim around the iris, and eyelashes. If the effect is too subtle, repeat. If the effect causes scary alien eyes, then just lower the opacity of that layer.

7. Soft Skin layer: This layer will add a soft blur to the skin to soften it. Use a low opacity soft white brush (10-20% to start) and gently brush over the skin, avoiding the eyes, mouth, hair, etc. If the effect is too subtle then repeat. If the skin looks like a plastic doll then either lower the opacity of that layer or start again by filling in your layer mask with black. It is so important to apply a light hand to this layer as the results should be subtle.  Sometimes I set my brush to 100% and then just lower the opacity of that layer to taste.

8. Vignette layer: Use a soft low opacity black brush to add a vignette around the edges of your image or darken (burn) areas. Use a soft low opacity white brush to lighten (dodge) areas.

9. When you are finished, just flatten the layers and save the file.

Download the free CoffeeShop PowderRoom 3 action here.

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. 

For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Pretty Presets: Spring Color, Flare & Haze for Lightroom 4 AND 25% SALE!



The Spring Color, Flare & Haze Collection is uniquely designed to add a sun-kissed touch to your natural light images. The “Color Presets” can be used alone or in conjunction with the “Post Sunflares and Hazes” to create dreamy color and beautiful warm tones. You can also use the “Post Sunflares and Hazes” as a stand alone preset, or combine with any of your favorite presets from Pretty Presets for Lightroom. Plus, enjoy 25% off this collection for a limited time. View more by clicking here! This is for Lightroom 4, we will release a set for Lightroom 3 in a month.

The set contains 25 Original Presets including 6 Color Presets and 19 Post Sunflares/Hazes. The Color Presets & Sunflare/Haze Posts are perfect for all your natural light photos, and work best on RAW images.

Special thanks to Brooke from Brooke Logue Photography for generously allowing us to use her images for our preset examples.
Special thanks to Jen Carver Photography and Spanki Mills Photography for generously allowing us to use their images for our preset examples.
The set contains 25 Original Presets including 6 Color Presets and 19 Post Sunflares/Hazes. The Color Presets & Sunflare/Haze Posts are perfect for all your natural light photos, and work best on RAW images.
Enjoy 25% off THE ENTIRE STORE for a Limited Time with the code "readytoedit".
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Act today to get the best discount!

Enjoy 25% off your total purchase through Thursday, March 29th at midnight MST
Enjoy 20% off your total purchase Friday, March 30th through 12pm MST
Enjoy 15% off Saturday and Sunday!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

CoffeeShop Facebook Cover Blank Template!


We are still trying to get the last bits of our stuff moved from the old house to the new (why in the world did I not just pack everything up for the movers to move?), but the new house is finally starting to feel like home.  Every time I move I plan on going through stuff before I box it up, but I get impatient and decide that I will just move it all and go through it later.  And of course once it is boxed up and in the closet in the new place I forget about it and it just gets moved once again.  And now that I have kids the amount of stuff is getting bigger and bigger.

I just tell myself that one day I will have more free time because the boys will be bigger or I will have empty nest syndrome and have plenty of time to go through all of my old junk.  I hear stories from so many of my friends and family members about their moves and how it would take years for them to get everything where they wanted it.  These stories comfort me and make me feel less guilty about not having pictures on the walls yet and still having problems finding the extra toilet paper.

My sister in Austin (the one who said she likes to move so she can clean out junk) moved recently and within a week her house looked like a home with pictures on the wall, rugs in their appropriate places, and books sorted and placed on bookshelves.  And she had plenty of toilet paper stocked in each bathroom (she must be a witch!).  She also has two kids and is a wonder woman.  She has a unique talent of making any place look like a cozy home almost immediately, while I can live in the same place for seven years and still have blank walls.  I need her to come visit and help me design this place!

Even though I am having to get adjusted in being in a neighborhood in town after living on acreage for almost seven years, we are just a few minutes from an actual Main Street of the small town I grew up in with all of its beautiful parks, amazing small family-owned restaurants, and free festivals.  We are also still close to friends and family, so that made the move easier.  And our new house is really nice (with no green shag carpeting or avocado green ovens) with plenty of trees and and a big yard for the boys to run around and play.

And fortunately my parents live 20 minutes away on 30 acres of woods with creeks and plenty of climbing trees, trails, and assorted snakes and bugs.  So my boys will still be country kids which is really important to me.  Did I tell you that my parents took a dozen of my favorite chickens?  They had an old bird aviary my husband converted to a hen house.  My chickens love living out there and have become so tame.  And I still get fresh eggs!

I hope to get completely moved in the next week or two or three and then I will have more time to create and blog. Not to mention feel less stressed because the work will finally be done and we can have our weekends back.  I miss our normal life!  But I did have some free time today to make a little freebie for you.

I made a simple blank Facebook Cover Template that is the maximum size (851px by 315px) so you can create your own custom covers.  I included a simple jpg where you can add your image/text above the background and also a layered psd which has an layer for the little photo profile on the left side so you can make sure important parts of your cover are not covered by your profile picture.  The profile picture layer is turned off, but you can turn it on to see what part of the cover is getting covered up by it.

Download the free Facebook Cover Blank Template!   


Do you want to download thousands of professional CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop actions (including exclusive ones not found anywhere for free), textures/overlays, scrapbooking papers, clip art/design elements, photo storyboards and frames, and Lightroom presets from this site in one convenient zipped file AND help support this one-woman blog?

Just click here for my CoffeeShop Mega Download Pack!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

CoffeeShop Tutorial: Making Transparent pngs for Designing


I just discovered The Graphics Fairy website where you can download beautiful vintage clip art for free!  I used this cute vintage rabbit for my Facebook Easter cover I posted yesterday and I was inspired to write a little tutorial on removing a white background from clip art.  This is just one way to do it in PSE or Photoshop Elements, but it is an easy technique and can work really well.
1.  I right-clicked on the rabbit on the Graphics Fairy Website (seen in the image above) and downloaded it on my desktop.  This image was a jpg so the background was white.  I wanted to remove all of the white so I could put the rabbit on  some vintage digital paper.


2.  I selected W for my magic wand and made sure that it was set for new selection (first box on menubar), set the tolerance to 10 (this can be adjusted) and made sure Contiguous was not checked (because there is white in the middle of the rabbit I want to remove).  Then I clicked on the white space around the rabbit to select all of the white in the image.


3.  I then double-clicked on the Background layer (rabbit) in the layer pane and when the New Layer menu popped up, I clicked on OK.  You can't remove the white from a layer called Background.  Then I clicked on Delete on my keyboard and all of the white was removed.  Then click on Command-D to remove the marking ants.


4.  The rabbit is now on a transparent background and you can save it as a png to keep it that way.  Don't save it as a jpg or the white background will come back!!!


5.  I dragged the rabbit (V for move tool) and dropped him on some vintage paper and free transformed him to fit (Ctrl-T).  Make sure you hold shift in PS/check Constrain Proportions in PSE or your rabbit will get distorted.


6.  Now you can play.  If you put the rabbit layer in soft light or blending mode it will fade into the paper.


7. If you want to add color, add a color fill adjustment layer above the rabbit (keep the rabbit in normal mode), group it, and then adjust the color to taste.

I hope you have fun downloading free clipart from The Graphics Fairy!!!  And thank you so much Karen for sharing your designs.


Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

CoffeeShop Facebook Easter Cover / Website Header Set!


I just discovered an amazing website, The Graphics Fairy!  Karen has thousands of beautiful vintage design elements and inspiring tutorials on crafting and design.  And you can use her downloads personally or commercially (please go read her TOU).

I was so inspired visiting her website I decided to put together a set of Facebook Covers/Website-Blog Headers for Easter/Spring!  The frames, rabbit and flower texture are all from The Graphics Fairy.  I included both a  layered psd version that is fully adjustable and can be used in both Photoshop and PSE and also a simple png with image cutouts that can be used in any editing program.

These are image files and can be used on Facebook or as a header for your blog or website.  I used a free font from Font Squirrel called Aquiline for the "Happy Easter".  If you don't have this font you can download and install it. You can also change the text to "Happy Spring" or whatever you want in the layered psd version of the headers.

Download the free CoffeeShop Facebook Easter Cover/Website Header 1


Do you want to download thousands of professional CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop actions (including exclusive ones not found anywhere for free), textures/overlays, scrapbooking papers, clip art/design elements, photo storyboards and frames, and Lightroom presets from this site in one convenient zipped file AND help support this one-woman blog?

Just click here for my CoffeeShop Mega Download Pack!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

CoffeeShop Ethereal Sky Texture Set!


Sometimes I need to go out of my creative comfort zone and try something new.  I am always fascinated with composite photos and decided to play and do a quick and dirty one on my own using a few images I shot the other day.  The results were quite funny and very amateurish (my husband cracked up when he saw the image), but I realized this was something I might want to explore in more detail.


I did a great job on little Imp sitting on the steps (this is a composite so he was originally not there), but poor little Duke sticks out like a sore thumb.  I am really excited to try learn more about this type of technique because it is so fun and you can be so creative.

After I finished this quick edit I ended up loving my sky texture so I decided to put together a little set of high resolution jpgs to share with you.  I used the Oil Painting-5 texture from ShadowHouse Creations in this download set and my own sky photo.  These textures are really pretty and look like oil paintings. You can use them for cards, web design, storyboards, composites; the sky is the limit.  ;-)

I love textures and have a bit of an addiction.  Some of my favorites are Chasing Dreams (Colleen has gorgeous textures and a 25% discount available today, March 18th, use code Irish25), FlyPaper Textures (some of the best painterly and vintage edge textures out there), and Shadowhouse Creations (beautiful free textures, please consider leaving Jerry a donation).  I don't think it is possible to have too many textures.

Download the free CoffeeShop Ethereal Sky Texture Set!  You can also download it from here.

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

Friday, March 16, 2012

{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!




Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Coffee With Amanda: Fixing White Balance Problems in LightRoom

CoffeeShop LR White Balance Tutorial Feature


Hi there! Long time, no see!! This is Amanda, from Everyday Elements and I am beyond thrilled to be guest posting here today!

Rita and I keep up with each other's Facebook pages and I noticed several Lightroom questions being asked, so I offered to do a quick tutorial for CoffeeShop readers, and Rita graciously accepted, so here I am!

If you don't have Lightroom (LightRoom 4 just came out!), let me explain that it is an AMAZING file management program, with built in editing options that are similar to Photoshop's Adobe Camera Raw. For me the Library/file management side of Lightroom is the biggest advantage, but many others use it for it's batch editing capabilities, for both raw and jpg images.

Okay, that said, I want to show how to quickly fix white balance problems your images may have.
  • What is white balance? That is the overall color temperature of your picture and it is determined by the WB setting on your camera and the type of light you were in when the picture was captured.
  • If your image is really orange/yellow then your WB is too warm. If your image is too red/blue then your WB is too cool.
  • When the white balance is off, the whole picture will just look "off," no matter how great everything else is with it.
See my SOOC (straight out of camera) shot below? The white balance is too warm; my daughter does not have red hair. ;-)



Using Eyedropper in LR for WB


To fix the WB in Lightroom (this is the SAME for LR 4, 3 and 2), simply click on the eyedropper tool, then click in the whites of the eyes. Sometimes you will need to try different spots, so after clicking and not seeing what you want, just press the 'w' key on your keyboard. That reactivates your eyedropper tool, and you can click again.

What if you do not have any eyes in your picture? Look for something that should be gray or neutral. That can be a zipper, button, silver jewelry (as long as it's not reflecting light), a fence, gate, door knob, you name it.



LRwbtweakbeforeafter


Once you get the WB you want, you can then "sync" other images that were shot in the same light/setting. Usually I do all my global (applies to whole image, not local spots) edits then sync with other pictures, but for this example I am only syncing the white balance.
  • Below your main workspace is a thumbnail strip of other pictures in that collection/keyword tags/import (however you were viewing the image in the Library module before moving over to the Develop module).
  • The image you are working on will be a lighter shade than those surrounding it, hold down your shift key and then click the last picture in the series of images you wish to sync.



Syncing WB in Lightroom

  • After highlighting all the pictures with similar lighting/wb then press the 'sync' button (labeled with 2nd above).
  • When the dialogue box comes open, click the 'check none' box so that none of the settings are selected.
  • Cick the box next to White Balance.
  • Press 'synchronize,' and that adjusted white balance will be applied to those other images, saving you from having to do each one individually.
There you have it....fixing white balance in Lightroom is just that easy!

If you are very new to Lightroom and would love to learn how to really rock both the Library (file management) and the Develop (photo editing) modules, I recommend taking one of my Lightroom workshops that I offer via Pretty Presets. They are super affordable and jam-packed with value!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

CoffeeShop Vintage Frames 25


Here is a new vintage web frame (original sent by Lori Peterson, thank you Lori!).  I have included both a layered fully adjustable psd version with two clipping masks options (one vintage, another with rounded corners) that you can use in PSE or Photoshop and a simple png with a cutout that you can use in any editing program.  These frames are great ways to show off your images on blogs/websites/pinterest/etc. or they can be used in digital scrapbooking/card design/web design.


The layered psd frame has 4 layers.  Turn on the clipping mask you want to use (I turned on the Vintage Clipping Mask layer) and group your image to that mask then Ctrl-T it to fit.  You can also use my Group-It action.  You can toggle on the optional Frame Color layer to change the frame color and put this layer in color, multiply, soft light, or even overlay blending mode.  I used multiply in the image above.

Download the free CoffeeShop Vintage Frames 25.  You can also download it here.  These are not actions so don't load them in your program as actions but rather open them like an image file.

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures (including this frame).

Saturday, March 10, 2012

{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!



Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

Thursday, March 08, 2012

CoffeeShop Facebook Cover 4!


First I want to point out this amazing tutorial showing how to copy layer masks by Amanda of EveryDay Elements.  This technique can be invaluable when editing portraits.  Thank you Amanda!!!

Second, here is another customizable CoffeeShop Facebook Cover where I used a vintage frame from Lori Peterson.   I will post a larger version of this frame later.  I have included both a fully adjustable layered psd file for use in Photoshop or PSE and also a simple png file with photo cutouts that can be used in any editing program.  I have several other Facebook Covers already posted, please check them out!

If you want to use the layered version and are new to using clipping masks to add your images, I have this simple tutorial and also my Group-It action.

Download the free  CoffeeShop Facebook  Cover 4

 
Do you want to download thousands of professional CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop actions (including exclusive ones not found anywhere for free), textures/overlays, scrapbooking papers, clip art/design elements, photo storyboards and frames, and Lightroom presets from this site in one convenient zipped file AND help support this one-woman blog?

Just click here for my CoffeeShop Mega Download Pack!

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Check out March Madness at ColorInc!!!


I am so proud to have Color Inc Pro Lab as a sponsor on my blog. Not only are their prints and products beautiful, but their customer service is exceptional.  And their specials this month are outstanding!!!

If you are just trying them out for the first time, you can receive five 5x7 test prints for 1 cent! This is a perfect way to make sure your prints match your monitor.  If you are looking for a great place to print your images, please check out Color Inc Pro Lab.


And  please go "like" the Color Inc Facebook page  to keep informed of all of their great deals and tell them that Rita of CoffeeShop sent you!  They are one of the reasons I can keep everything on this blog free.  Thank you Color Inc!

Sunday, March 04, 2012

CoffeeShop Luminous Color Burst PSE/Photoshop Action!


I think this is one of my most practical action, and a personal favorite of mine.  CoffeeShop Luminous Color Burst allows you to easily make your images pop with vibrant luminous color, dodge and burn selective areas, and is completely adjustable.

The download for the action is at the bottom of this post.

CoffeeShop Luminous Color Burst Action Instructions


 1.  Open your image.  This is an SOOC (straight-out-of-the-camera) image.


2.  Start the action.  A Levels adjustment layer will pop up.  Press OK.


3. Adjust the highlights, shadows, and midtones to taste by adjusting the sliders under the histogram.  I kept the shadows the same (left slider) and made the highlights (right slider) and midtones (middle slider) brighter for this edit by moving the sliders to the left.  When you are finished press OK.


4.  When the action is finished running you will see 5 layers over your background.  Note:  The Color Deluxe layer was renamed Color Burst and I was too lazy to make new screenshots.  :-)


5.   I first adjust the Color Burst layer.  Adjust the opacity to taste. It is preset to 50%, but I turned it up to 100% for this edit.


6.  One of the problems with a vivid color pop is that it can add too much red to skin as seen in this closeup.  I will use the layer mask to remove the color pop on these areas.


7.  Alt-click on the Color Burst layer mask and your image will look like an x-ray.  The black areas are masked so the color burst won't be applied to that part of the image.  The white areas are not masked, so those areas are getting the color burst effect.  I want to remove the color burst off his skin. If you are new to painting on layer masks I wrote a simple layer mask tutorial.

NOTE: You don't have to use the alt-click method, you can simply paint over the layer mask. I just like to do it so I can see where I am painting.


8.  I selected a soft black brush (b) and painted over his head and hand.


9.  Alt-click on the color burst layer mask again and you can now see that the red is removed from his face and hand.


10. Now I want to dodge (lighten) the path.  Click on the Lighten It layer mask while holding down shift-alt.  I used a soft low opacity white brush to paint over the pathway.  You can see where I painted where the red is less bright.


11.  I wanted to burn (darken) the woods and sides of the pathway, so I clicked on the Darken It layer mask while holding down shift-alt and used a soft white low opacity brush to brush around the image to darken it.  You can see where I painted where the red is less bright.


You can see there is quite a difference between the before and after.  I hope you love this action as much as I do. Download the totally free CoffeeShop Luminous Color Burst PSE/Photoshop Action.  You can also download it here.

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack (includes this action!) or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.