Hi-Tech Menu
In this Photoshop tutorial we will teach you how to create a hi-tech menu for your website. For educational purposes we created only the part of the menu. Other parts (cells) of the menu can be created by copying existing layers.
Step 1. Create a 300×100 document. Press ‘D’ to reset the foreground and background colours to default values.
Step 2. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a rectangle, then create a new layer (Layer 1) and fill it with the colour #0074FF. You should have a picture similar to the below:
Step 3. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a small rectangle inside the rectangle you have drawn in Step 2. Create a new layer (Layer 2) and set the foreground colour to #00C5FF.
Step 4. Now click ‘Gradient Tool‘ in the ‘Tools‘ bar, select ‘Foreground to Transparent‘ gradient, and draw from left-bottom to right-top. Now click ‘Move Tool‘ in the ‘Tools‘ bar and check ‘Show Bounding Box‘ in the ‘Options‘ bar. Now set the ‘Horizontal Skew‘ to 30. You will have the picture similar to this:
Step 5. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a smaller rectangle. Create a new layer (Layer 3), now click ‘Gradient Tool‘ and draw from right-bottom to left-top. Now click ‘Move Tool‘ and set the ‘Horizontal Skew‘ to 30. Now move both layers (Layer 2 and Layer 3) to have the picture like shown below:
Step 6. Hide Layer 2 and Layer 3. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw a new rectangle (Layer 4). Click ‘Gradient Tool‘, select ‘Radial Gradient‘ and draw from the center of the rectangle to the right. Now right click the layer and select ‘Blending Options‘. Go to ‘Gradient Overlay‘ and set the following parameters:
Opacity - 80%; Gradient - ‘Foreground to Background’; Style - ‘Linear’; Angle - 90; Scale - 117%. Hit ‘Enter‘.
You will have something like this:
Step 7. Click the ‘Move Tool‘ and make sure that ‘Bounding Box‘ in the ‘Options‘ bar is checked. Now you need to drag the bounding rectangle edges to the right or to the bottom to have something like this:
Step 8. Unhide Layer 2 and Layer 3. Now move all layers, dublicate some of them if necessary to give them a look of the menu.
Step 9. Add your text to the menu. We used Dutch801 XBd BT, Extra Bold, 14 pt, colour #DBE8F8, Horizontally Scale - 150% for the text. Below is the part of the hi-tech menu we got at the end.
Sunset Text Effect
In this Photoshop tutorial we will create an effect as if the sunset light goes through the text.
Step 1.
Create a 400×200 document. Press ‘D’ to reset the foreground and background to the default value.
Step 2.
Use the Horizontal Type Tool (T) to print the text. We typed ‘Sun Set’ and used the following parameters for the text: Dutch801 XBd BT, Extra Bold, 64pt.
Step 3.
To make a slight horizontal skew for the text select ‘Move Tool‘, and then check ‘Show Bounding Box‘ in the Options bar. As a result a bounding rectangle will appear around the text. The Options bar will give a chance to modify the text parameters. We set the horizontal skew value to ‘-10′. If you do the same you will have the text similar to this:
Step 4.
Right-click the text layer in the Layers window and select ‘Blending Options‘. Now go to ‘Stroke‘ and set ‘Size‘ to 1 px and ‘Color‘ to #000000.
Step 5.
Go to ‘Gradient Overlay‘ and set the parameters like shown in the picture below. Choose ‘Blue, Red, Yellow‘ gradient for your gradient overlay. After you’ve done that hit Enter.
Step 6.
Look at your text now. Does not it remind you a picture of the sun setting with a red circle in the center and the blue sky on the left and on the right? Now we will add ‘clouds’ to the text by making the text embossed. Go to ‘Bevel and Emboss‘ in ‘Blending Options‘ and set ‘Depth‘ to 141% and ‘Size‘ to 7px.
Step 7.
Now go to ‘Texture‘ in ‘Blending Options‘, choose the Pattern that will create the effect of clouds for your text (we used ‘Bubbles’ pattern for this tutorial).
Step 8.
Now go to ‘Drop Shadow‘ in ‘Blending Options‘ and play with the shade for your text. When you hit Enter you will get a sun set text effect similar to the one shown below:
Magnifier
In this tutorial we will learn how to create a magnifier effect for certain parts of your photos using Photoshop 7.
Step 1.
Open a photo and duplicate the layer (apply Layer > Duplicate Layer…). Choose the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make a round selection (holding Shift). Press Ctrl+Shift+I to inverse a selection and then press DEL. Apply Select > Deselect.
Step 2.
Apply Edit > Free Transform… and make a selection larger. Apply Select > Load Selection… and then apply Filter > Distort > Spherize (Amount->65%). Apply Select > Deselect. Apply Filter > Render > Lighting Effects… with the following settings:
Step 3.
It’s time to make a magnifier effect for the photo. Apply Select > Load Selection… and then create a new layer. Apply Select > Modify > Expand (3 pixels) and fill this selection with any colour (apply Edit > Fill…). Apply Select > Modify > Contract (5 pixels) and press DEL. Choose Line Tool (weight->5px) and draw a short line. And that’s it. See how you applied a magnifier effect to the photo using Adobe Photoshop 7:
Cyclone in Photoshop 7
In this article I’ll show you how to make a splendid effect: a view on a cyclone from the space.
Step 1.
Create a new 800X600 pixels document with the blue background.
Apply Filter > Render > Clouds and then Filter > Distort > ZigZag with the following settings:
Step 2.
Apply Filter > Distort > Twirl with the “Angle 999″ and then Filter > Distort > Shear and try to set the line like in the following picture:
Step 3.
Now, apply Filter > Artistic > Plastic Wrap with the following settings: Highlight Strength = 17; Detail = 15; Smoothness = 10:
Step 4.
Apply Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur (with Radius = 2 pixels) and then apply Filter > Distort > Ocean Ripple with the following settings: Ripple Size = 15; Ripple Magnitude = 3.
Step 5.
Apply Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast with the following settings: Brightness = -25; Contrast = +52. And that’s it.
A Human Eye
In this photoshop tutorial you will see how to create a truly looking human eye.
Step 1.
Create a new 400X400 pixels document with the white background. Choose the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make a round selection (holding Shift). Create a new layer (Layer 1) and fill it by the white colour (apply Edit > Fill…White). Then apply Select > Deselect.
Step 2.
Apply Layer > Layer Style > Drop Shadow and use the following settings:
Step 3.
Create a new layer (Layer 2). Choose the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make a round selection (holding Shift) in the “eye” center. Press “D” to resert colours and then press “X“. Choose the Radial Gradient Tool and fill the selection from the center to the border.
Step 4.
Create a new layer (Layer 3) and fill it by the white colour. Apply Filter > Noise > Add Noise with the following settings: Amount->400%, Distrubution->Uniform, Monochromatic->OFF.
Step 5.
Choose the Smudge Tool (Diameter->21px) and spread the noise from the center to the border. Apply Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation with the following settings: Hue->31, Saturation->93, Lightness->-35 and set the Blending Mode to “Overlay“.
Step 6.
Create a new layer (Layer 4). Choose the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make a round selection (holding Shift) in the center. Then choose the Pencil Tool and draw 2 different points. And that’s it.
