Tuesday, December 30, 2008

CoffeeShop Attic Vintage - A Free PS/PSE Action!



You have already seen the CoffeeShop Attic Vintage Tutorial , and now you can download the free CoffeeShop Attic Vintage PS/PSE Action! You can use any "vintage" texture with this action, but two of my favorites are Paul Grand's Scratches Inverted Texture and Heavy Paper from ShadowHouse Creations.

CoffeeShop Attic Vintage Action Instructions

1.  Make sure the only image open is the image you wish to enhance.  Close everything else.
2.  Start the action. The action will run on a duplicate of your original so you can compare the before/after.
3.  Adjust the feather for the vignette.
4.  Open the vintage texture of choice when prompted.   The action will apply the texture to your image and you adjust it to fit.  Unclick the Constrain Proportions on top in PSE or click on the little chain between W and H in Photoshop if you need to adjust the proportions of the texture to make it fit.  If you can't see the drag bars click on Ctrl-0 (zero) to zoom out, and to zoom back in click on Ctrl-0 again.
5.  The action will finish running and you can adjust the layer opacities to taste. 

Download the free CoffeeShop Attic Vintage Action.

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, December 28, 2008

CoffeeShop Tutorial: Creating Cool Grunge Effects with Textures



The two images below are from Michele, a CoffeeShop Reader.





I love creating the grunge effect on images. It is really easy and there are so many free textures out there. Do a search at Flickr and Deviantart just to get started. This photo of a groom and his best men was just begging to have some dramatic enhancements.

First, open the flattened image [...]

Friday, December 26, 2008

CoffeeShop Color Pop 2 Free Action!!!




NOTE:  My newest version of this action can be found here.  It replaces this version if you aren't concerned about adding a vignette to your image.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are still enjoying the holidays!!! I wanted to release my newest free Photoshop and Photoshop Elements action, a new version of CoffeeShop Color Pop that will run in Photoshop Elements.

This has two of my favorite color pops from that action, and I added a sharpening layer and automatic custom vignettes. There is even a layer to convert your nicely popped image to B&W, muted color, or selective color. Full instructions come with the zipped file as do icons needed to load the action into Elements. Even if you have and use the original, this one is worth downloading as it has the vignette and B&W function. Oops! The second color pop is Decaf, not Urban, please excuse all typos!!!

Download the CoffeeShop Color Pop 2 Action!  Want to try my newest version?  Go visit the CoffeeShop ColorPop 3 action post!

Do you want to download thousands of professional CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop actions (including exclusive ones not found anywhere for free), textures/overlaysscrapbooking papersclip art/design elementsphoto 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, December 21, 2008

CoffeeShop Denim Free Action for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements!


Well, it is almost Christmas and like you, I have been terribly busy. However, I made the time to create a little Christmas present for you guys. One of my readers, Barbara, wrote me an email asking if I had ever seen of an action that would turn a color image B&W yet leave denim jeans blue. I haven't come across an action like that, so I decided to write one that night.

This action works in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and gives you 3 versions of denim to choose from: Classic Blue, Faded, or Bright and New. Just click on the eye icon by the layer you want to turn on. If there are parts of your image which still have color you want to remove, just click on the black layer mask in the "Remove Color" layer, then paint over the color part in the image with a white brush to "erase" it. Don't forget to flatten your image when done!

This action does not only work on blue jeans, use it in any image where you want to selectively color blue; like clothing, eyes, or landscapes. Galveston Island, TX (this summer before hurricane Ike devastated it during the fall) in this case.



If you want to use an action that will work with any color, please check out my Selective Color Action.  I have plenty of things headed your way on this blog, including more actions (Pretty Portrait, White Chocolate Latte, more color pops, and B&W) plus more tutorials and custom papers/card templates. So please come and visit the CoffeeShop when you get a chance! I really appreciate all of your wonderful comments here.   Have a Merry Christmas!!!

Click here to download the CoffeeShop Denim Action!

Do you want to download thousands of professional CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop actions (including exclusive ones not found anywhere for free), textures/overlaysscrapbooking papersclip art/design elementsphoto 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, December 14, 2008

CoffeeShop Vintage Wedding Photoshop Texture Tutorial




I was editing some wedding photos and since I really love the vintage look I decided to turn one of them into a vintage wedding photo. I wanted this image to look as if it had been up in a dusty broken cardboard box in the attic for over a hundred years, and it is yellowed and scratched from improper storage and handling. I left the colors a bit vivid however since this is about being creative and not realistic! This technique can be used to "age" any image including landscapes or portraits.

1. Find a wedding photo. Or get married, [...]

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

CoffeeShop Barn Textures for Photoshop and Photoshop Elements!



It has been cold here (finally) so the boys and I are spending a lot of time exploring the back fields, barns and the chicken coop. All of the outbuildings are really overgrown right now (cows and chickens have moved out and were replaced by hay, so we have a huge cleanup project planned this winter so we can get chickens again), so we only climb around there when the snakes are frozen. In Texas we have a cornucopia of snake diversity, 68 species, 4 of which are venomous (coral snakes, copperheads, cottonmouths (also known as water moccasins), and rattlesnakes). Interesting enough we have seen 3 of the 4 in our backyard at various times. I have yet to see a rattlesnake, but we have "ran" into a few of them northwest of us on our camping adventures. My husband hates snakes (he still blames them for getting us booted out of Eden) but I am fascinated yet respectful of them.

So last week I decided to take some photos of the interesting textures we came across in our adventures. I think some of them are quite nice, so I put them all together for you to download. The zipped file is huge (100 MB), but there are some really interesting barnyard and natural textures in there. The ones below are 2 samples. They are just normal .jpgs, so after unzipping the file, just open them like a normal image in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Here is a texture tutorial if you need some ideas on how to use these textures.





Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets 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.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Introducing CoffeeShop PowderRoom 2!!!

I just posted the newest version of PowderRoom, PowderRoom 3.  I streamlined it by removing the "duplicate image" part of the action and having the action select the white brush so you can start painting on layer masks.  But otherwise it is still the classic PowderRoom.

I  also have a different version of this action that you might want to try, Baby PowderRoom (it is not just for babies!).  It does not replace PowderRoom 2 but is a great action for times when you are working on a portrait that has red skin issues.  If you want a one-stop portrait action that automatically softens skin and enhances your entire portrait, please check out CoffeeShop Perfect Portrait 3.

Click on the image below to download the free action or click HERE!

It is finally completed and I am releasing it on my son Duke's 4th Birthday (pictured below). The original CoffeeShop PowderRoom has been one of my most popular actions ever, and I listened to your excellent suggestions and made PowderRoom 2 bigger and better. This is the only action you will need to retouch your portraits. It softens skin, brightens and defines the eyes, removes redness from tired/allergy eyes, and whitens teeth. It works in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and comes with step-by-step .pdf instructions and icons for PSE.

I hope you guys enjoy it! And did I mention it is completely free??? :-) And thanks again for hanging out at the CoffeeShop, where the coffee is always hot and the actions are fresh!!!

NOTE! I have a little .pdf tutorial included in the download. If you are having trouble with this action and are seeing any difference when you paint over the layers with the black layer masks (such as soft skin) there are two things you might be doing incorrectly. 1. Make sure to click on to select the black layer mask BEFORE using the white brush to paint on your image. If you have the layer selected but not the actual black layer mask (just click on the black part) you will see no changes when you paint. 2) Make sure your brush blend mode (on top) is set to NORMAL and not any other setting. If it is not on normal it will not work correctly and you will see no changes!

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!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

CoffeeShop Tutorial: Retouching - Hot Spots and Dark Shadows


I am a huge fan of Scott Kelby's books on photo-editing (I refer to an old edition, "The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers" quite often). His books are full of great tips/tricks and have been invaluable for my Photoshop and Photoshop Elements education. They are the only photo-editing books I have ever purchased.

I wanted to share with you a great retouching tip to remove those annoying hot spots and dark shadows on portraits. The dark shadows tip is actually mine, but the hot spot tip is directly from Mr. Kelby's book. The "new" healing tools are really valuable for skin repair, but the old classic clone tool is perfect for this type of retouching process. This method works great to reduce deep wrinkles without completely removing them and making an 80 year old look 20. Unless you want that look of course!!!

Monday, December 01, 2008

Preview of CoffeeShop PowderRoom II Action!


I have finally updated my original CoffeeShop PowderRoom action. This improved version which will run in Photoshop Elements (5,6, and 7) and Photoshop (7 and all versions of CS) is streamlined and has two new layers, one to retouch skin and one to whiten teeth! So you can retouch and soften skin, define and brighten eyes and whiten teeth; all in one action. I am really excited about this action and will be posting the final version this week. I am also including a .pdf file with step-by-step instructions on retouching using this action.


Then I will be putting my final touches on CoffeeShop Pretty Portrait which will have the above action plus color pop, sharpen, and vignette; basically a one-action-does-it-all for portraits. I think you guys will love it! Plus I have more tutorials and cool enhancement actions coming out in the next weeks.


Thanks again for your wonderful comments, emails and support. You all make it so fun for me to blog here!!!
See you at the CoffeeShop! Rita