We haven’t done a grab bag post in a while, but there’s just too many exciting things going on in the world of photography right now that I couldn’t resist putting one together. Let’s skip all the preamble and get straight to the good stuff!

New Photo Assignment

We’ve just put up a new photography assignment in the forums. Our photography assignments are open to absolutely everyone. We know that it can be difficult to push ourselves creatively sometimes, and that’s exactly why we have these assignment challenges. The goal is to get you to break out of any comfort zones, try something new, and to push yourself – to grow.

This one runs from Dec 2nd to Dec 15th, and any submissions to the assignment must be shot during that window. The theme for the assignment is: Reflections. What I love about this particular theme is that it really forces us to look at the world a bit differently. Put your creative caps on, and have a ball shooting this one. We only have two simple rules to follow (which can be found in the assignment posting), and entries are to be submitted here. Happy shooting!

Christmas Around the World

This is an opportunity to submit your photos and have them published in our magazine! We often feature different locations in our “Photography Around the World” column, and every December we do a “Christmas Around the World” feature article. Send us up to TWO photos that show us what Christmas looks like in your city/town. It can be of anything unique to your city – a parade, celebration, tree lighting, decorations, you name it… Here are the guidelines:

1. You may submit up to TWO photos. Must be
2. original images, and shot by you.
3.   Images are to be submitted in JPEG format at a MAXIMUM of 1200 pixels on the long edge.
4.  You may also include a brief (max. 50 words) description of your image(s).
5.  You MUST include the following: Your name, along with the name of the city/town featured.
6.  By submitting your photos, you give us permission to publish them in PhotographyBB Magazine.
7.  Submissions are to be emailed to: xmas2011@photographybb.com by Dec. 15th, 2011.

You may submit photos from previous year’s events, since I know many of them may not have taken place yet for this year. This isn’t a photo assignment or challenge, simply a chance to show off your town during Christmastime!

Free eBook from Craft & Vision – PSYCHE!

So, yesterday was the launch date for the free ebook – Craft & Vision: 11 Ways to Improve Your Photography and umm… let’s just say, it was so popular that the server blew up. Twice. The downloading issues are all resolved now, so if you weren’t able to get your free copy yesterday, then definitely go for it again today. I promise it’ll be there (crossing fingers!).

Download it here: http://www.photographybb.com/free-ebook

Win a Drobo…AGAIN!

That’s right! We had TWO Drobo winners for our October draw, and the generous folks at Drobo have ponied up another free Drobo for us to giveaway. You can only win if you ENTER so go ahead and click that green button to get your name in! If you entered previously, you must submit your name again to this brand new draw.

Of course, Drobo makes a great gift for any photography enthusiast. It’s one of the safest places you can store your digital image files, and they are just a breeze to setup. Finding Christmas presents can be challenging for “the person who has everything” and Drobo makes a pretty unique gift. So if you have someone in your life who you don’t mind spending a pretty penny on, check out some of the holiday specials at Drobo and give the gift of peace-of-mind this year.

Have a Very Merry Photoshop… umm.. Christmas!

Last year we put out a few Photoshop card templates, which I would like to bring to your attention again. There’s only three at the moment (I promise I’ll try to add more… quickly!). They are sized to 5×7 which so they can be output at your local photo printer, which is a nice size for a photo-card. Each one has space to drop in a photo of your choice, then add your own personalized text which can be different for each recipient. I do this every year for my extended family members, and each time it’s a hit! Download the Templates Here

Also, if you love to play around in Photoshop, try making your own card template using these AMAZING free Christmas brushes from one of my favourite Photoshop websites – Brusheezy!

So, that’s all for today folks. If you have any Photoshop templates or brushes links, or would just like to say hi – go for it in the comments section and spread the love. Stay safe while out there shooting for the photo assignments. I look forward to seeing all of the entries, and have a great weekend. Happy Holidays!

Welcome to the third post in our series on Digital Watermarking Techniques! Many of you have asked about using frames, and while they are not a typical “watermark” so to speak, they do offer the same limited protections that a conventional watermark does. The use of frames as a watermark per se, is a rather controversial decision, and some would say it serves a more aesthetic purpose. As we discussed in our previous posts on watermarking, unless you cover your whole image with an unsightly watermark, NO watermark technique provides 100% protection for your photos from the online image-bandits. However, using as frame such as the following, does lend a nice finishing touch while letting the viewers know more about yourself, website, and photo location. Of course, these techniques can be modified to suit a number of styles, so feel free to experiment and have some fun with this!

Step 1: Action!

To make the automation of this process easier for future images, let’s start by creating a Photoshop Action which can be used over and over again with one-click.

Open your Actions Palette (Menu: Window > Actions) and at the bottom of the Actions palette, click on the little folder icon to create a new Actions Set. When the dialog box pops up, name this set “Watermark Frames” or something along those lines.

Next, click on the “Create New Action” icon (at the bottom of the Actions palette) and name this Action “Poster Frame 1″ while making sure it belongs to the Watermark Frames Set which you just created. Once you click OK, you’ll notice that the little red “record” icon is lit at the bottom of the Actions palette, indicating that your Action is now recording.

Step 2: It’s for the web, so resize it!

Since we are dealing with images intended for web sharing, let’s resize the photo using the methods we’ve previously discussed. Go to the menu: File > Automate > Fit Image… and constrain your photo to 900 x 900 pixels (or whichever maximum dimensions you decide are appropriate).

Step 3: Starting the Frame

We’re going to start building the frame from the inside outward, so let’s add some detail to the edge of our photo now. Double click on the “Background” layer in the layers palette, and rename this layer to “photo” or simply the default which is “Layer 0.” This tells Photoshop that our photo is no longer going to be the “background” layer, which allows us to do some additional editing to it.

Add a stroke to this layer by going to the menu: Layer > Layer Style > Stroke…

Use an inside stroke of 1 to 2 pixels, with the color set as black.

Next, go to the menu: Layer > Layer Style > Inner Glow…

First, click on the glow color (default is a pale yellow) and change it to black. Next, change the blend mode of this layer to “Multiply” from the drop-down menu. You can choose the best settings for your image, but I used a size of 5 pixels, and changed the technique from “softer” to “precise.” Feel free to play around with any of the settings to see how they affect your image. As you’ll see from the result, this adds a nice inner shadow to your photo.

Step 4: Building the Outer Frame

Hold down the Control (PC) or Command (Mac) key, and click on the “Create New Layer” icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. This creates a new layer under our photo layer.

With this new layer active in the layers palette, go to the menu: Image > Canvas Size…

Here you can change the canvas size to add some space around your photo. Make sure you click on the “Relative” checkbox, then you can decide how large you want your border to be. Of course, you can choose the dimensions you desire. Here I went with an extension of 150 pixels around the who image. Click OK.

Since we plan to add some text to the frame, you may like the bottom part of your border to be a bit larger than the rest of the border. We can do this by going back to the canvas size menu again: Image > Canvas Size…

This time, keep the “Relative” checkbox clicked, and click on the center-top arrow to anchor your image, which will only extend the canvas along the bottom. Consequently, you’ll want to enter a pixel value in the “Height” field to indicate how large the canvas extension should be. Here I went with 100 more pixels.

Step 5: Fill that Frame!

You will have noticed that your frame has no particular color at this point. Now that the canvas size is set the way we like it, go to the menu: Edit > Fill… choose “White” as the fill color, and ensure that “Preserve Transparency” is NOT checked. Click OK!

Before we add the text, let’s finish the canvas by adding a small border around the edges also. As we did in step 3, go to the menu: Layer > Layer Style > Stroke… and add a black border, 3 pixels (or however thick you would like it), with the position set to “inside.”

Step 6: Add the Text

Using the Text Tool, click on your image in the bottom area of your frame (where you’d like the text to show), and type any information you would like to include. You can give your image a title if you like, but remember the goal of the watermark is to provide the viewer with some way of knowing who took this photo. It’s probably best to include either your full name or website in your text. Once you have typed your text, click on the little checkmark icon at the top of the screen to commit your text to the image.

With your text layer still active, hold down the shift key and click on the canvas layer (named Layer 1 if you did not rename it). This will select both layers in your layers palette. Go to the menu: Layer > Align > Horizontal Centers which will center your text horizontally with your large border.

Step 7: Resize Again (Optional)

Since adding the outer border by expanding the canvas dimensions, we’ve increased the overall dimensions of this image. If you would like to resize it back to 900 pixels maximum again, simply repeat Step 2 and constrain the image back to 900 pixels.

Step 8: Stop Recording!

Go back to your Actions palette, and click on the stop recording button at the bottom of the Actions palette. Your framing Action is now complete and ready to be used on any of your photos! To run this Action on any of your images, open a photo in Photoshop, open your Actions palette and choose this Poster Frame action, and click Play. Everything you just did in this tutorial will be repeated automatically!

Of course, with each different photo, you may wish to edit the text. Since the text is on its own layer, you can double click on it anytime with the text tool to make any changes you desire.

Have fun with this technique and feel free to adapt it or make any modifications you’d like. The possibilities are endless! In our next watermarking article, we’ll have a look at watermarking in Lightroom 3. Until then… Happy Photoshopping!

Yesterday we looked at the why behind adding a watermark to your digital photos. Today we’re going to jump into the how. Before everybody gets too upset with me, I’m going to preface this post with this comment: I’m Dave, and I’m an Adobe-holic. There are so many great digital editing software packages out there on the market, but I choose to use Adobe products because I was trained on them, and I like them. I couldn’t possibly learn exactly how to use each and every post processing software suite, nor do I have a the resources or time. Therefore, for the purposes of the following tutorials I am going to be demonstrating watermarking techniques using Photoshop and Lightroom. While the processes I show you may need to be modified (depending on which software you are using), many of you who are proficient with your own choice of editing software will be able to follow along just fine and apply these techniques as they apply to your post processing software. Enough with the disclaimers, let’s get to the good stuff!

As we talked about yesterday, there are different ways to watermark your digital photos along with the different reasons for why you would want to. By now I’m hoping that many of you have considered how a watermark should (or should not) be used in your own photography. So, rather than doing a traditional step-by-step tutorial, I thought I would break this up into parts. These parts will be more like building blocks to allow you to come up with the best solution which is tailored to your own work. Doing it this way may also introduce you to techniques you can use outside of watermarking; wouldn’t that be cool?

Last thing before we get down to business here… The one of the upcoming tutorials in the watermarking series will be on automation. For now, we’re going to start with the basic foundation on how to create a watermark, and we’ll finish up the series with how to automate the process in Photoshop.

Create Watermark Image Files

The next step in this process is to create your watermark as a separate image file (or files) – with a transparent background. Doing this will ensure more consistency in your watermark’s position and size with respect to your digital photos for the web. Start by creating a new image document, with ridiculously large, square dimensions. You want to choose dimensions larger than any image file that your camera will output, and I’ll explain why in just a second. I created mine on a 6000 x 6000 pixel, 300dpi document, larger than any image my camera will produce.

The reason for doing this is so that we can use this watermark on images of any size in the future, including images sized for print if necessary. If you are strictly going to work with one image size for the rest of your life, then you can use smaller dimensions for your watermark image, but I prefer the flexibility of being able to choose later. Up-scaling a watermark can be difficult, but with a super-huge watermark file we’ll be able to easily scale it down and still retain full detail in the watermark while being able to use it on all of our digital photos, regardless of what size you choose to make them in the end.

Your watermark can be anything you choose, including a graphic, logo, or simply text. For the purposes of this tutorial I am going to stick with simple text, but feel free to create any type of watermark you would like. You can even style your text with a drop shadow, outline, or any other fancy effects you desire. On your super-huge watermark document, create the watermark size as if this document were one of your actual photos. So, if you want your watermark to stretch across the whole image, create it that way here. If you prefer it to be subtle and in the corner, do that now. For this example I am using just text as my watermark, and I am placing it in the lower right corner.

You may wish to create a few watermark files with the watermark in different positions. I encourage you to create several variations such as a lower left corner watermark and even centered along the bottom. If working with text, you may even wish to create versions with black text, and another with white text so that you have those options available if your image is dark or light (a black text watermark isn’t going to show up on a dark background image). It’s completely up to you, so create as many as you like. Just make sure when saving that you name them appropriately so you can easily identify them by name later. Also, we need to save these watermark files as transparent images; you don’t want an unsightly white background from your watermark file to cover up your nice photo that you are using it on. You can save them as a TIFF, PSD file, or even as a PNG. We’re doing all of this work now to help with the automation process later, but for now we’ll look at how to manually place this watermark file in your photo.

Work on a Duplicate Copy

First and foremost, make a duplicate copy of your photo so that you are not working directly with the original file. The critics will say this uses up too much disk space, but I say that it’s better to use up space (which I can free up later) than to inadvertently save over my original with something I may wish to change later. Besides, we’re talking about images intended for web use, so their file size is going to be negligible. Watermarking your photos is logically the last step before posting your photo on the web. Duplicate your original and do all of your regular post-processing first so that you have a finished image, then save it as a JPEG. Duplicate it (again) so you can work on a watermarked copy of the finished JPEG which we can shrink down to a decent size for use on the web.

Resizing for the Web

Since we are specifically looking at watermarking images for the web, it’s best to resize our photos at this point. Remember, you are no longer working on your original (out of the camera) or your finished (processed) JPEG; you are working on the duplicate (soon to be web version). There’s no point in putting your processing software through the motions of dealing with a large image file anymore since we’re now at the point to optimize for the web.

As for what dimensions you choose for your final product, that’s completely up to you depending on where you like to share your photos. Personally, I use a size of 900 pixels on the longest edge of the image. It is a widely accepted standard on many of the photo sharing sites which I use, some of which may even scale my images down to fit their specifications. Again, it’s personal preference what size you choose. Some people like them larger for sites like photo-sharing forums, and other people prefer them smaller to further prevent them from being attractive to image thieves. I think 900 pixels is a nice size for the viewer while keeping the file size small enough to load quickly on the web.

There are many ways to resize your digital photos, all of which are valid. I like to use one of the lesser known features in Photoshop called “Fit Image.” This feature constrains the image size to the pixel size of your choosing, and if you use it as I do here, it works for both landscape and portrait orientation images. This feature is under the Photoshop menu: File > Automate > Fit Image…

If you are using software besides Photoshop, you’ll may need to resize your images specifically based on landscape or portrait orientation, adjusting the maximum pixel length of the image for either the width (landscape) or height (portrait). If the options are available in your image editing software, ensure that “Resample Image” and “Constrain Proportions” are both selected.

Placing Your Watermark in Your Photo

Now that you have a photo that is edited and resized for the web (any size you choose!), we are ready to place the watermark in the image. You’re about to see why we went through all of the trouble in creating those large watermark image files now.

If you are working in Photoshop, here’s what you would do (for those of you not working in Photoshop, there are similar options in many editing programs). Go to the menu: File > Place… and when the dialog box pops up, choose the watermark image file you would like to use. In this example, I am using my lower-right text watermark image which I created above.

You’ll notice that Photoshop has kept the watermark image bound to fit within my photo. This is because we used the same dimensions to create the watermark image. Also, Photoshop has resized the 6000 x 6000 pixel watermark file down to fit inside the photo. This will be the case with any image size you are working with, as long as it is smaller than the dimensions you used to create your watermark file. This is ideal because now every time I add a watermark to my photos, regardless of their size, the watermark will appear to be the same size proportional to my photo.

But wait! I used my “lower right placed watermark image”, and it’s not showing up in the lower right corner of the screen. Photoshop automatically centers any file which has been “placed” into another document. Makes sense, but doesn’t help us here! Thankfully, we can easily use the Move tool to slide this watermark over to the side, or we can use the “Align layers – right edges” function to line them up. A word of caution though: When using the align layers function with a transparent image, it will align to the edge of the graphic/text, not the edge of the watermark image file. You may need to nudge your watermark a few pixels away from the edge of your photo manually if this is the case.

I think that leaves you with a lot to work with for today! Tomorrow we’ll come back and look at creating image templates which are useful when you wish to use watermark frames instead of adding text/graphics to your photos as we just did here. If any of you are using other post-processing tools besides Photoshop and Lightroom, feel free to comment on how certain steps would be done in that software. Until then I bid you happy watermarking!

I’d like to introduce you to a special charity organization dedicated to helping enrich the lives of children in need. Many of you have heard of Big Brothers, an organization which matches young girls and boys who have limited or no contact with their mothers or fathers, to carefully screened volunteers who mentor, teach, and aide in the child’s social development. The program has been a huge success in the growth of young people who have otherwise had no role models in their lives. Big Brothers is a registered charity and relies on the generosity of donations and volunteers.

PhotographyBB is running a fundraising campaign from now through May 15th for the Big Brothers organization through the sale of our Photoshop Actions. If you would like to help out, simply purchase any of our Pro Photoshop Actions and ALL of the proceeds from every Action sale from now through May 15th will be donated to Big Brothers. All Actions are eligable, and to help our members afford a reasonable donation we’ve reduced the price of our newest action, the Watercolor Pro Action Pack to only $15. I’d like to thank all of you in advance. If you would like to make a donation, please follow the link below, and get a cool Photoshop Action in the process!

Click Here to Visit the
PhotographyBB Photoshop Action Page

Firstly, a very Happy 20th Anniversary to the wonderful folks who created and who continue to create Photoshop! Where would your life as a graphic artist or digital photographer be without this wonderful tool? Check out this 17 minute video of various clips throughout the history of Photoshop, as well as a modern look 20 years later to today’s current version.

Happy 20th Birthday to Adobe Photoshop! Just look at the evolution of this marvelous piece of software genius. Here’s to 20 more years (and more) success in the industry of graphics, image processing, and most importantly… innovation. Can you remember which was the first version of Photoshop you used? Remember to visit the link we posted yesterday to view the Adobe TV presentation with the original architects of Photoshop as they run the original Photoshop 1.0 on a rebuilt Apple Macintosh – sweet!

Additionally, in celebration of this event, PhotographyBB is having a one-day 20% off sale on all our Pro Photoshop Action Packs. Just use the coupon code: ATN20 in the shopping cart to receive your 20th Anniversary discount.

Once again, congratulations to the fine folks at Adobe, NAPP, and all of the other Photoshop professionals who continue to succeed in an ever changing industry. All the best, and Happy 20th Anniversary Photoshop!

On the eve of the 20th anniversary since the launch of our favourite image editing software, the birthday celebrations are in full swing for our beloved Photoshop! Here’s a cool little look back at some of the thoughts of the original architects of the software, in a clip of a video which Photoshop TV will air tomorrow night. Just imaging if these guys hadn’t gone forward with their plans… where would we be today?

This event will be broadcast via the web and the video will be available in it’s entirety here: http://tv.adobe.com/go/photoshop-20th-anniversary

Also, you won’t want to miss NAPP’s (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) Photoshop party being held tonight at 7:30PM PST where you will see all of the Photoshop gurus like Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski, Dave Cross, and some special surprise guests. The party will also include a look at some cool stuff that nobody has seen yet, and we’re all invited! NAPP is streaming the event live through this site here: http://www.photoshopuser.com/photoshop20th

It’s sure to be quite the party, so join in the fun. If you are a “Tweeter” then you can participate by adding the hashtag #PS20 to your Tweets, or follow the Photoshop Fan page on Facebook for some additional social networking celebrations. Today and tomorrow, PhotographyBB will be having a 20% off all our Photoshop Actions in celebration of this great achievement in software design and longevity (for 20% off, use discount code ATN20 in shopping cart). Congratulations Photoshop!

Just a quick and friendly reminder for anyone who is interested in picking up either our newest Action Pack – Watercolor Pro Actions, or any other Action pack for that matter. The 20% off discount ends tonight at midnight, so if you are thinking of purchasing any, please take advantage of this sale while it’s on. The discount code is ATN20 and must be entered into the shopping cart before you checkout. As always, I love seeing your results with the Actions, so please feel free to email me your creations, or post them for everyone to admire in the PhotographyBB Forums. Enjoy!

VANCOUVER, Canada – Feb 9th, 2010 – Today, PhotographyBB announces the release of the Watercolor Pro Action Package for Photoshop®. Unleash your inner artist and turn your photography into sensational works of art, perfect for framing, making personalized cards, keepsakes, portraits, or simply to share in your online gallery!

Watercolor Pro produces realistic and high quality painted watercolor effects suitable for portraits, wedding photos, beautiful landscape artwork, night shots, architecture and more. The images you produce will turn your already beautiful photos into stunning pieces of artwork, and does it all in one-click! Watercolor Pro Actions will work with Photoshop versions CS, CS2, CS3, and CS4 (English only versions) on both PC and Mac platforms.

PhotographyBB Watercolor Pro Actions include 6 different watercolor paint effects, 7 brush stroke effects, 4 “texture” effects, and 6 start-to-finish preset effects in this pack, including a natural watercolor effect, a “wavey” watercolor effect for a freehand painted look, and a special “cafe-style” art effect. The actions all run in a single click, while the different paint, brush, and texture options allow for limitless variations and combinations of painted styles. Two versions of this action are included: One which produces images suitable for the web and small prints, and one version for full prints and/or enlargements.

The package launches with a 20% discount on this action pack (and all existing action packs) for three days only (Feb 9th – 11th, 2009), by using the COUPON CODE: ATN20 in the shopping cart at: http://www.photographybb.com/actions

Create a virtual snowglobe this year to add to your Christmas cards, photo gallery, e-cards, or just for the fun of it! With the PhotographyBB Snowglobe Photoshop Action, you simply open any one of your photos, click play on the action, and voila – an instant snowglobe in one-click! This action works especially well with both portraits of your favourite people, or you most beautiful landscape photos.

This action creates a high-res output image suitable for printing (as cards), is compatible with Photoshop versions PS7 all the way up to CS4, and works in English only versions of Photoshop. All layers are left un-flattened at the end to allow for control over the background, and options such as the snowglobe glare and shadow.This action is completely free and includes a 20% off coupon code for any of our premium action packs. (Save 20% by entering the coupon code: ATN20) Feel free to try out our free Snowscapes Action too. Merry Christmas, and enjoy!

Download the Snowglobe Action Here:
PhotographyBB Photoshop Actions Page (scroll down the list for the free Snowglobe Action)
Direct Download