Photo Editing.

[ClownReef®]

Ok, im 2 seconds away from hanging myself..

How do you photo gurus add text to pictures (like signatures at the bottom) and also, how do you add the black backgrounds that make the fish/coral pictured be the main focus of the picture. TIA!

 

[gobygoby]

photoshop

 

[ClownReef®]

LOL..i know that..but how?

 

[gobygoby]

what do you mean how?

open the image in PS....then select the text tool.....then type what ever you....then save.

 

[ClownReef®]

hehe, thanks goby , but i mean..like the ones in this thread

 

[gregr]

I'm no Photoshop guru... that is for sure, but did you see the pictures/text in this link?. I believe he can tell you how to add text if you ask nicely

 

[ClownReef®]

Thanks gregr, Ill give him a shout

 

[Blazer88]

Here is one that I did yesterday. I will post instructions later when I have a little more time....it's really easy.

 

[ClownReef®]

..Drools.....

 

[ClownReef®]

Did you find time? ..jk

 

[Blazer88]

Sorry man, I had to get back to my home desktop that has photoshop on it since I couldn't find the link. I am using photoshop 7 for my pictures above, here is what I do for the logo;

Click on the text tool and drag a box where you want the text and type whatever you want. That will make a new layer over the image. Double click on the new text layer that you created and it will open a set of options called layer style. You will see a menu of options on the left hand size. Click the Bevel and Emboss options and you can play with the other shadow options and see what you like. The center section will say blending options. I set the opacity to about 40% so the picture shows through the text. Playing with those other blending options will change how the logo looks so just select what you like. Let me know if you have any questions!

-Rick

 

[ClownReef®]

WOW..thanks so much for finding time Rick, i really appreciate it..

Just one more question.. How do you set the black background on your pic?..the clowns and everything look so vivid with the black background.

 

[Blazer88]

Black pencil and paint away with a carefull hand Here is the original before I changed the background.

 

[ClownReef®]

WOW!..you did an amazing job!..Thanks Rick!..Ill post my humble try later today

 

[flameangel88]

Blazer88, thanks for taking the time to help us newbies here. I have one question--lets say if I wanted to just enlarge the part of the clowns (like in the middle) and I've been able to do that in PS but how do you save it? I'm not sure if I explain this correctly but after I enlarge the part I want then saving it but when I open it up the original comes out. TIA.

 

[Blazer88]

I don't think I understand what you are trying to describe. Maybe it isn't saving the new layer after you crop and re-size. Can you post a picture of what you are trying to accomplish? My photoshop skills are somewhat limited, but I'll see if I can help.

 

[flameangel88]

Blazer88, thanks for the reply. Lets say on the picture below I wanted to enlarge (or I guess the term is 'crop') the royal gramma and nothing else outside of the box how would I go about it. I've PS 8 but don't know how to use it yet and I'm going to take a class on it but till then I wanted to post better close up pictures.

 

[flameangel88]

Something like the third post down from here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=836495

 

[flameangel88]

btw--i'm using a lens that is equivalent to 300mm in the slr term and that was the best I can pull in.

 

[Blazer88]

You have to realize the pictures from that other thread are from a really expensive camera with nice macro lense....probably not what you are working with. And your picture of the gramma is only 780x518 pixels which isn't that large. Once the fish is cropped and re-sized, it is going to be grainy no matter what. The pictures I generally work with are about 2600x2000 pixels which means I can crop a fairly small area of the picture and still have nice resolution once the cropped area is set to 600x450 (what I normally post my pictures at). Here is what I did to your picture.

You can see the crop tool is highlighted on the toolbar to the left. Drag the area you want and right-click to select crop. That is going to make your new picture what you cropped.

I then threw a really basic black border on the picture that was cropped. Can you tell how the picture is grainy? If the picture was large to begin with it could have been cropped and re-sized but keeping nice resolution. Hope this helped.