CoffeeShop Web Storyboard: 5 Pics!

Here is my newest free web storyboard action and template! This storyboard download includes an action that runs in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and automatically builds and loads this 1000px wide storyboard. I also included a .psd layered storyboard template that you can open in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements like any other image and load images using clipping masks. There is a tutorial here.

NOTE: You can turn off the white frame layer on top if you don't want the frames. Or you can add a color fill layer on top and group it to the frame layer to change the color. :-)

There are a few things you have to know before using this template action.

1. There is a Photoshop and PSE action. Install the right one!

2. If you use this in PSE you have to have a random image open BEFORE starting the action. The action will close the image before building the storyboard.

3. Sometimes these types of complex actions will crash your PSE program the first time you use it. Just restart PSE and it should work fine.

4. The action will load the images in the order you see listed in the image above.

5. After you load the images you can easily go back and select the image layers and make further tweaks in their positions.

I hope you enjoy this storyboard!  Download the totally free CoffeeShop Web Storyboard 5 Pics HERE!

OK, a few links you need to check out if you love free textures and layer masks (you know I do!).  I love these and these.  I could spend all day playing on the computer if those boys would let me...  :-)

I also wanted to mention that I decided it was too complicated having two versions of our Watermarking action kit over on our design site. So now we only have the Ultimate Watermarking version with a special reduced price. This is a set of time-saving actions that make it simple to prepare your images for the web. They sharpen and crop your images, add optional special enhancements like rounded corners, Polaroid frames, custom-colored frames, and drop shadows and automatically apply your own watermark.  These actions are the closest PSE users will get to batch processing and I even threw in two "real" Photoshop CS batch processing actions.

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.

Army Guy Adventure: Captured! Or Not...

I had him, if only for a moment.

CoffeeShop 101: Soft & Dreamy Texture and Color Tint Tutorial, Part 2

Here is part two of my Soft and Dreamy Texture and Color Tiny Tutorial.  I am using the free texture I used in Part 1.

Open your texture and your image in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.

Click on V (move) and click on your texture and drag and drop it on top of your image.  Ctrl-T to free transform it, and drag the bars until the texture covers the entire image.

Put the texture layer in screen blending mode.

Add a soft ivory solid color adjustment layer on top.

Put that layer in color blending mode and adjust the opacity to taste.This will mute your colors.

Now you can add the color tint layer. Add another Solid Color Fill layer with the color of choice and put it in color blending mode and adjust opacity to taste.  I used pink first, then tried out blue.  The great thing about Solid Color adjustment layers is you can simply double click on the little color box and make changes on the fly.

Now for a nifty little trick.  You might want to add an additional layer just above the background to adjust the contrast.  In the past I would say Ctrl-J and make a copy of the background and put that layer in screen blending mode (to lighten) or overlay/soft light (to bump contrast).  That extra copied layer makes your layered .psd file that much bigger. 

To keep the file size smaller, simply add a levels adjustment layer, making no adjustments to it, and put that layer in screen (in this case to lighten the image and make it more hazy) or in overlay/soft light (to slightly bump contrast).  Then adjust the layer opacity to taste.  Remember, you don't have to move any sliders, just add the levels layer and change the blending mode!

Here are the layers I added to get my before/after image of the bluebonnets. 

Now, if you want to save a bit of time I wrote a little action that will automatically add your layers and you can simply drag and drop your texture (add it just above the levels layer) and adjust the layers to taste.  You can download it HERE!

Speaking of bluebonnets, mine got trampled once again!  It was last Sunday.  The blue bonnets were past their peek surrounded by 3 foot tall weeds.  I decided that I could move my huge "No Trespassing PLEASE" sign and replace it with my tiny "No Trespassing, flowers are seeding" sign, because what idiot would put their kid in a jungle of weeds with a few faded bluebonnets.  Reasonable, right?

So the big sign was removed and we went out for breakfast and had a field trip to Lowe's (the boys love to "ride" the lawnmower tractors).  I had noticed at 7:30 that morning (we are up early Sundays because Imp likes to get up at 6:30) that the girl's softball teams were already playing.  On a side note, my kids will never be involved in any sport that I have to be somewhere at 7:30 in the morning on a rainy Sunday...

We came home and started some yard work. I went over the the bluebonnet patch to figure out where it was safe to start mowing.  And it was then that I noticed that a herd of "littering-possibly drunk because they had to be at the ballpark on a rainy Sunday morning-elephants" had visited once again... Yes, from one end to the other there were huge gaps of smashed bluebonnets.  Seriously, it looked like the entire ball park had come out on a field trip to CoffeeShop Bluebonnet Farms to have their photograph taken in the weedy snake and fire-ant pit.  Maybe next year I should set up a drink stand and sell some hotdogs...  ;-)

My husband swears it is a form of bluebonnet crop circles since we never saw anyone actually in the flowers.  Maybe...  But I am starting to suspect he paid the neighborhood kids to come and kill my bluebonnets so next year he won't have to mess with them.  ;-)

I also wanted to mention that in my quest to make some money without getting a real job :-) and still leaving plenty of time for my kids, husband, and this blog (my true passions!), I am doing some more blog designs at my CoffeeShop Designs site.  CoffeeShop Designs is Heather (my little sister) and my little part-time creative outlet and business venture (and one of the things that help me keep everything on this blog absolutely free!).   And please check out Heather's custom and premade logos  if you get a chance.  Heather is off camping this weekend with her family, lucky girl...  I love to camp. 

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download 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.

Combine Dreaming

Little Boy
Tall grass
Warm hazy sun
Chickens be wary-
Red trike rusty
He tells me
Combine dreaming

For those of you that aren't farmers (I told my husband to start telling people that ask what I do for a living that I am a chicken farmer AND stay-at-home mom) this is "Combine" as in "A power-operated harvesting machine that cuts, threshes, and cleans grain".   Now it makes sense, right?

 I used my Butterscotch Vintage action in Photoshop CS4 on this image. I will be posting Part 2 of my Soft and Dreamy Texture tutorial with an action in my next post.

Blogger UnWrapped: Posting Large Images, UPDATED!

Blogger makes it easier than ever to post large images now. I would suggest cropping your images web-sized before uploading them so your original large images won't get stolen.  I usually don't load images larger than 1000px wide.

Make sure you are using the new post editor. If not, it is easy to set up.

Army Guy Adventures: Operation Bluebonnet

You might remember my post the other day about my struggles to save little children from snake and fire ant bites and keep destructive people out of my little bluebonnet patch. I put up a  No Trespassing Sign (with a handwritten PLEASE!) and it was working, until yesterday.  Yes, Imp's Army Guys are back, with a vengeance...  On a side note, "why doesn't Blogger's new post editor have a spellcheck?" she asks when she tries to type "vengeance".

I was out inspecting my bluebonnet patch for damage and trying to find the perfect bluebonnet to photograph when I heard a rustle in the middle of the field. I gingerly tiptoed through the weeds, flowers, and snakes and spied this:

I was outraged. To think that the Army Guys were invading my bluebonnet patch

CoffeeShop 101: Soft & Dreamy Texture and Color Tint Tutorial, Part 1

I love the very popular look of soft texture and subtle color tint. This effect is actually quite easy to achieve if you know a few editing tricks! On the bluebonnet image above I used a free texture by Johnna Riddell and did a little bit of Photoshop "magic" which I am going to share with you.

Today, on Part 1 of this tutorial,

After Easter, and it is not pretty...

Imp received an early birthday gift from Uncle ArmyGuy. 202 little Army men. Unfortunately one of them escaped...

Photography and Depth of Field - Or How To Get Those Fuzzy Foreground/Backgrounds!

Happy Easter everyone!!!



I am one of those people who shoot mainly in Aperture Priority (Av) Mode.

Bluebonnet Time!

This is one of my favorite times of year. Yes, the bluebonnets are blooming! Our bluebonnet "field" (it is pretty small, more of a bluebonnet patch) is slowly becoming a fragrant sea of blue and green. I used my Butterscotch Vintage action on this photo taken today (I added a white Solid Color layer on top set to color blending mode, 30% opacity, to reduce the bright colors) and cropped for the web and added rounded corners using my Web Rounded Corners action. Oh, basic editing done in LightRoom 2, then I used the actions in Photoshop CS4.  And I used my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens.

Once the field is in full bloom I will force my unwilling boys out there, risking fire ants stings and snake attacks for a few traditional Texas Bluebonnet photos.