Playing With Styles
page one
[The Ctrl-J shortcut for duplicating a layer or selection contents
to a new layer is disabled in Elements 2. Use Layer > New > Layer
via Copy instead. There are some excellent new Wow styles that ship with
version 2.]
Elements has a fairly limited number of styles in its Layer
Styles palette, but by combining them in different ways, you can make
them go a lot farther.
I’m going to show you how to apply
styles to an image, as a frame, but these techniques will work just as
well on buttons, or Web interface parts.
Styles can be applied to (large) type, and
to shapes made with the shape tools.
Shown below is one of the People shapes with a Complex style applied.
And, here’s a text example with a combination of Complex styles.
I’m going to rattle these steps off without much elaboration, so
please pay attention, and don’t skip anything. Each step is important.
Open your image. I’m going to be using the picture of a puppy, shown
below. Press Ctrl plus the J key on your keyboard. This creates a duplicate
of your background layer in the Layers
palette.
Double click on the new, duplicate layer
and name it “image”. Then unlock it by unchecking the lock box
at the top of the Layers palette.
The bottom, background layer will still be locked. Don’t worry about
that. Background layers are always locked.
Click on the background layer. Press the
D key on your keyboard to make sure the default colors are showing in
your toolbar. Then press Ctrl and the Backspace key to fill the background
layer with white.
Tips
Elements Tools
Elements Palettes
Brushes in 7
Using PS7 Brushes
7 Basics
7 Reference: Tools
7 Reference: Palettes
Reference: Filters
Reference: Effects
Selections
Channels
Basic Layers
Basic Pen
How Much?
Color Management
Color Correction
Combining Images
Combining Images II
Combining Images III
Compositing in Photoshop
Perfect Blend
Multicolor Fill
Curves, Levels, or Brightness/Contrast?
Dodge and Burn
Duotones
Styles On Masks
Organic Textures
Abstract Background
Make a Frame
3D Wire Text
Doodling
Older Tutorials
Quick Mask
Rubberstamping
More Adjustments
Sharpening
Filters
Color
Elements Tutorials
Elements Basics
Reference: Elements Tools
Reference: Elements Palettes
How Do I...?
Gotcha
Pre-Beginner
Pre-Beginner II
Why Layers?
Holes
Fade In
Playing With Styles
Learning Effects
Redeye Removal
Artistic Filtering
Symmetrical Flowers
Simulated Alpha Channels
Layer Masks
Multilayer Masks
Displacing Textures
Click on the image layer in the Layers palette. Select the move tool in the toolbar. Press the up arrow key on your keyboard 5-8 times to move the image up slightly.
If you are working on an image which is much larger than mine, or which has a much higher resolution, you’ll need to press the arrow key many more times. Use your best judgement. Frames are always a little bit wider at the bottom than the top. It looks better that way.
Click the background layer in the Layers palette. Then choose Layer > Duplicate Layer. Or, you can right click the background layer and choose Duplicate Layer from the menu. Double click on the new layer, and name it “frame”.
Press Ctrl and click on the image layer’s name. It’s the top layer, and the one with the puppy on it in my example. Pressing Ctrl while clicking a layer’s name loads its content’s outline as a selection.
With the selection outline active, now click on the frame (white, middle) layer. Press the Delete key. Then press Ctrl-D, or choose Select > Deselect to deselect all. Your Layers palette should now look like this.
Click on the background layer. Choose Image > Resize > Canvas Size again. Add two inches to both the Width and Height values. Do this by making sure your units are set to inches, and adding two to whatever number is showing for Width and Height. Leave the Anchor as is, and click OK.
You should now have an image, alone on the top layer, a frame on the middle layer, and a wide white background for the bottom layer. The checkerboard pattern you see on the top and middle layers indicates transparency.
If you turn off visibility of the top and bottom layers, by clicking the eyeball icons at the left side of their layers, your middle, frame layer will look like this.
This middle, frame layer is the one that we’re going to apply the styles to, so please, make sure it is selected, and stays selected for the balance of this tutorial. Styles are applied to the selected layer. We do not want to apply styles to our image layer.
The whole image is as shown below. You can’t even tell that the frame layer is there since it is overlaps the white background. But you will know it’s there, as soon as a style is applied to it.
continue on page two
Shadows and Light
FreePhotos
Filler Images
Elementary School
Advanced Elements
The Belief Game
Animal Rights
Copyright © 2004 by Jay Arraich.
All rights reserved.
All photographs copyright ©2004 by Jay Arraich
jay@arraich.com
Elements Tips
Photoshop Tips
Elements Tools
Elements Palettes
Site Index