Mother's Day Celebration Ideas

Happy mother of the day all of u..>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

            Mother's day is one of the occasions when you can show your gratitude to your lovely and gorgeous mother. The oodles of happiness and bunch of jovial moments that she has given you indeed need a celebration. She is the one who first showed you the world to you and now it's your turn to show her the world. A Mother takes every pain simply for her child without uttering a single word of dissatisfaction. Nobody else can be as caring as a mother. And therefore, she deserves to be celebrated for the way she has made your life a celebration with her unspoken prayers and continuous efforts.

Here are few of the Mother's day celebration ideas to rely on if you are planning to delight your mother on this mother's day and say your heartiest feelings of love:

1. Delight your Mother with breakfast in Bed
Plan something extraordinary for her! Since you were born you have seen your mother preparing breakfast for everyone in the family. Now that you can do it for her, let this occasion be a special one for her by preparing her favourite and delicious breakfast for her in the bed. Make it a point that she does not have to work for even a while during the whole day. Before a week from the day of the Mother's day start finding out about the favourite breakfast of your mother, so that you can plan it out on the Mother's Day.

2. Plan Out For a Day Out Together
Make it an exclusive day just for your mother keeping no space for any other plans. Make your mother feel as if she is the queen of the province for that day. Plan a day out together, probably to a place where your mother has been planning to go for a long but could not because of other obligations. You can go to a favourite park, ocean or lake together with the whole family. What it actually counts is spending quality time together. And, so plan for gardening, bike ride or go for a picnic or anything when you can spend some quality time.

3. A Get Together of the Generations
Plan out a celebration family party and make sure that all the generations of the family are present in the party. Gather, great grand parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts and also all other members of your mother's side. If the weather is permitting then the most perfect location for the celebration would be a barbeque.

4. A Whole Day Rest for Your Mother
This ne would probably be one of the most loved gifts for your mother. You should also encourage everyone around to let their mother take rest on mother's day. She has worked non-stop for the family all these years. At least she deserves a day off from her duty. Let other members of the family prepare dinner and serve your mother her favourite one on the mother's day.

5. Help Other Mothers in Need
Mother's day came into existence to honour all the mothers out there who sacrifice for their children. And, the effort of every mother is important! This Mother's Day, donate to an organization which help children ad mothers, so that you can in a way help a mother.

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Transformations with the Content-Aware Move Tool in Adobe Photoshop CC (2015 release)

This excerpt references lesson files, which are available with the purchased book.

With the Content-Aware Move tool, you only needed a few quick steps to create a copy of the thistle that combines seamlessly with the background, and is also different enough that it doesn’t look like an exact copy of the original.

1. Open Thistle.psd in your Lesson05/Extra_Credit folder.
2. Select the Content-Aware Move tool ().
3. In the options bar, choose Extend from the Mode menu. Choosing Extend will duplicate the thistle; if you just want to reposition the single thistle you would choose Move.
   
   
4. Draw a selection marquee around the thistle, with a margin large enough to include the grass around it.
5. Drag the selection to the left and drop it in the empty area of grass.
6. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the dragged thistle and choose Flip Horizontal.
7. Drag the top left transformation handle to make the thistle smaller. If you think the copy of the thistle should be farther from the original, position the pointer inside the transformation rectangle (but not over the anchor point) and drag the thistle copy slightly to the left.
8. Press Enter or Return to make the transformations permanent, leaving the content selected so you can adjust the Structure and Color options.
9. Choose Select > Deselect, and save your changes.
   
   
   

Creating a Panorama in Adobe Photoshop CC (2015 release)

This excerpt references lesson files, which are available with the purchased book.

Sometimes a vista is just too large for a single shot. Photoshop makes it easy to combine multiple images into a panorama so that your viewers can get the full effect.

Once again, you’ll take a look at the end file first, to see where you’re going.

1. Choose File > Browse In Bridge.
2. Navigate to the Lesson05 folder, if you’re not there already. Then, look at the Skyline_End.psd thumbnail preview.

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You’ll combine four shots of the Seattle skyline into a single wide panorama image so that viewers get a sense of the whole scene. Creating a panorama from multiple images requires only a few clicks. Photoshop does the rest.

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You can also open selected images from Bridge directly into Photomerge by selecting Tools > Photoshop > Photomerge.

3. Return to Photoshop.
4. With no files open in Photoshop, choose File > Automate > Photomerge.
5. In the Source Files area, click Browse, and navigate to the Lesson05/Files For Panorama folder.
6. Shift-select all the images in the folder, and click OK or Open.
7. In the Layout area of the Photomerge dialog box, select Perspective.
8. At the bottom of the Photomerge dialog box, select Blend Images Together, Vignette Removal, Geometric Distortion Correction, and Content Aware Fill Transparent Areas. Then click OK.

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Blend Images Together blends images based on the optimal borders between them, instead of just creating a simple rectangular blend. Vignette Removal performs exposure compensation in images with darkened edges. Geometric Distortion Correction compensates for barrel, pincushion, or fisheye distortion. Content Aware Fill Transparent Areas automatically patches the empty areas between the merged image edges and the sides of the canvas.

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If you want to see how the panorama looks without the areas created by Content Aware Fill, hide the top layer.

Photoshop creates the panorama image. It’s a complex process, so you may have to wait a few moments while Photoshop works. When it’s finished, you’ll see the full vista in the image window with five layers in the Layers panel. The bottom four layers are the original four images you selected. Photoshop identified the overlapping areas of the images and matched them, correcting any angular discrepancies. The top layer, containing “(merged)” in the layer name, is a single panorama image blended from all of the images you selected, combined with formerly empty areas filled in by Content Aware Fill. Those areas are indicated by the selection.

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Getting the best results with Photomerge

If you know you’re going to create a panorama when you take your shots, keep the following guidelines in mind to get the best result.
Overlap images approximately 40%. You want enough overlap that Photomerge can assemble the panorama but not so much that it can’t blend the images.
Use a consistent focal length. If you use a zoom lens, keep the focal length the same for all the pictures in the panorama.
Use a tripod if possible. You’ll get the best results if the camera is at the same level when you take each of the shots. A tripod with a rotating head makes that easier.
Take the photos from the same position. If you’re not using a tripod with a rotat-ing head, try to stay in the same position as you take the photos so that they are taken from the same viewpoint.
Avoid distortion lenses. They can interfere with Photomerge. (The Auto option does adjust for images you take with fish-eye lenses, though.)
Use the same exposure. The images will blend more gracefully if they all have the same exposure. For example, either use flash for all the images or none of them.
Try different layout options. If you don’t like the results you get when you create the panorama, try again using a different layout option. Often, Auto selects the appropriate option, but sometimes you’ll get a better image with one of the other options.

9. Choose Select > Deselect.
10. Choose Layer > Flatten Image.
    
    
    
11. Choose File > Save As. Choose Photoshop for the Format, and name the file Skyline_Working.psd. Save the file in the Lesson05 folder. Click Save, and then click OK in the Photoshop Format Options dialog box.

The panorama looks great, but it’s a little dark. You’ll add a Levels adjustment layer to brighten it a little bit.

12. Click the Levels icon in the Adjustments panel to add a Levels adjustment layer.
13. Select the White Point eyedropper, and then click on a white area of the clouds.
    
    
    
    
    

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The sky gets bluer and the entire image brightens.

14. Save your work and close the file.

It’s that easy to create a panorama!

Adobe Photoshop CC (2015 discharge): Empowered By and For Mobile Devices

Since Adobe Photoshop turned into a piece of Adobe Creative Cloud, a significant part of the consideration has concentrated on the desktop-arranged advantages of Creative Cloud, similar to how it unites persistent element refreshes, improved establishment, document stockpiling, and extra devices and administrations, for example, the TypeKit text style library and the Behance inventive system. In any case, Adobe is progressively associating the desktop with a group of stars of applications on cell phones, and Photoshop CC 2015 is a noteworthy player in this exertion. 

That association goes both ways: You can utilize Creative Cloud portable applications to sustain thoughts into Photoshop and other Creative Cloud desktop applications, and you can now utilize Photoshop CC 2015 to all the more effortlessly configuration content for versatile applications and sites. How about we take a gander at how Photoshop CC 2015 coordination with Adobe portable applications works in both bearings. 

Begin Ideas Anywhere, Finish Them in Photoshop 

Imaginative Cloud versatile applications let you work out visual thoughts when you consider them, and afterward you can send those works-in-advance along to Photoshop and other Creative Cloud desktop applications for further improvement. Rather than making a basic advanced form of an originator's paper scratch pad, Adobe has contemplated how portable applications can address particular requirements for photography, outline, and delineation. That is the reason Adobe has built up a scope of Creative Cloud versatile applications that are streamlined for specific errands. 

A cell phone or tablet camera won't not be an advanced SLR, but rather its pictures are more than sufficient for you to use as the reason for computerized artworks or an outline mockup. For instance, on the off chance that you see a scene that passes on the correct tone for a promotion you're outlining, you can utilize the Adobe Photoshop Mix application to take a photograph of the scene with your telephone's camera, get plan resources from your Creative Cloud online capacity, and collect the mockup in Photoshop Mix. In the event that you just need a question out of the scene, you can utilize Photoshop Mix to remove the protest of its experience. At the point when it's an ideal opportunity to form the mockup into a more completed piece, the work you do on the iPad isn't a deadlock since you can send the Photoshop Mix sythesis to Photoshop on your desktop PC, where it shows up as a layered Photoshop record. 

Figure 1 You can send a Photoshop Mix creation straightforwardly to Photoshop CC on the desktop as a layered record. 

In case you're creating web or print formats, particularly where sort is a noteworthy component, you may favor the Adobe Comp CC application for the iPad. Comp CC is motion based, so you can utilize your finger to draw shapes that Comp CC naturally changes over into format components, for example, content and representation placeholders, rectangles, and circles. It's likewise simple to include pictures and vector representation from your Creative Cloud libraries. For content, you can look over a determination of textual styles from the TypeKit library that is a piece of Creative Cloud. Those text styles are likewise accessible in TypeKit on the desktop, so on the off chance that you later open the Comp CC extend in Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or Adobe InDesign on your PC, the TypeKit textual styles you connected in Comp CC will be protected and editable. 

Figure 2 Use motions (left) in Adobe Comp CC to fabricate Photoshop-perfect designs (right). 

On the off chance that your idea improvement or fine art is regularly in light of attracting or painting Photoshop, your portable arrangement might be Adobe Photoshop Sketch. With this iPad application you can utilize a perfect weight touchy stylus, (for example, Adobe Ink) to draw, paint, or follow pictures utilizing apparatuses that copy genuine pencils, brushes, and paints. You can send your work specifically to Photoshop on the desktop for further altering. On the off chance that you'd get a kick out of the chance to flaunt your work of art and get input, you can share it on the Behance innovative system. 

Figure 3 Draw or paint in Adobe Sketch and send the outline to Photoshop CC on your PC. 

Associate a Team with Creative Cloud Mobile Apps and Libraries 

Imaginative Cloud Libraries are a key association amongst Photoshop and the Creative Cloud portable applications. A Library is an arrangement of benefits that is open both in Creative Cloud versatile applications and in the Libraries board in Photoshop and other Creative Cloud desktop applications. 

Figure 4 The Libraries board in Photoshop CC, containing resources including shading topics and brushes. 

You can arrange resources into various libraries, for example, by venture or by customer. You can likewise impart libraries to other Creative Cloud clients. When you create thoughts in Creative Cloud portable applications, libraries give you a place to store those thoughts in a way that is available on different gadgets, as well as by your inventive group. 

For instance, in case you're chipping away at celebration design in Photoshop and you have to research hues and brushes to paint surfaces, you can utilize the Libraries board in Photoshop to make a "Celebration" library, impart it to your group, and approach them to help accumulate thoughts for hues and brushes. At the point when your group is far from the workplace, they can utilize their telephone camera with versatile applications, for example, Adobe Color CC to test shading subjects from this present reality; or they can utilize Adobe Brush CC to test potential design for designed lines, stroke styles, and illustrative fringes. 

Figure 5 Sample or make shading topics in Adobe Color CC (left) and make brushes in Adobe Brush CC (right). 

As your group gathers these shading topics and brushes to the library, they can add them to the library you shared straight from the versatile applications. When the group returns to their work areas at the workplace, they'll see that the greater part of the thoughts they gathered with their cell phones are as of now recorded in the mutual Creative Cloud library in Photoshop and other Creative Cloud desktop applications, prepared to be refined and formed into completed celebration extend design. 

See Your Mobile Designs on Actual Devices with Adobe Preview CC 

The new Adobe Preview CC application accomplishes something somewhat unique for Photoshop, contrasted with the other Adobe Creative Cloud portable applications. In case you're planning a site or portable application UI with Photoshop CC 2015, you can open the Device Preview board to view that Photoshop report on the screen of a genuine cell phone running Preview CC. Photoshop CC 2015 and Preview CC will naturally locate each other in the event that you are marked into both Photoshop and Preview CC with a similar Adobe ID, and the gadget is associated with your PC either with a USB link or remotely over a similar Wi-Fi organize. 

See CC truly makes its mark when consolidated with the new Artboards highlight in Photoshop CC 2015. With artboards, you can have numerous canvases of various sizes in a solitary Photoshop record, making it less demanding to investigate and create related outline thoughts together. When you send an archive to Adobe Preview CC you can basically switch artboards in Preview CC to perceive how each outline choice looks on the genuine gadget. In the event that you set up the artboards to coordinate the screen sizes of various cell phones, you can outline for those sizes in the same Photoshop report. You can then utilize the Device Preview board to send the archive to Preview CC on every cell phone, where you can pick the artboard with the outline for that gadget's screen measure. 

Figure 6 

Figure 6 Create portable website architectures in Photoshop CC 2015 (left), and view the Photoshop record in Adobe Preview CC on an iPhone (right). 

Make Mobile Connections with Photoshop CC 2015 

The new versatile availability in the 2015 arrival of Adobe Photoshop CC helps Photoshop keep its crown as the ruler of picture altering applications. Numerous current patterns in both desktop and versatile picture altering stay concentrated on altering a picture on a solitary gadget and afterward sharing the picture via web-based networking media. Photoshop CC 2015 rather offers new, adaptable creation situated work processes that can start or end on desktop or cell phones. You could begin outlining a versatile site in Adobe Comp CC while sitting on the prepare, lift it up on your desktop in Photoshop CC 2015, and utilize Adobe Preview CC to test your Photoshop format on different cell phones on your studio's remote system. 

Innovative Cloud portable applications are accessible for the most part for iOS, with some accessible for Android. Adobe has declared that more Creative Cloud versatile applications will be accessible for Android beginning in the mid year of 2015.

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Layer Basics in Adobe Photoshop CC (2015 release)

This excerpt references lesson files, which are available with the purchased book.

Lesson overview
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do the following:

• Organize artwork on layers.
• Create, view, hide, and select layers.
• Rearrange layers to change the stacking order of artwork.
• Apply blending modes to layers.
• Resize and rotate layers.
• Apply a gradient to a layer.
• Apply a filter to a layer.
• Add text and layer effects to a layer.
• Add an adjustment layer.
• Save a copy of the file with the layers flattened.

This lesson will take less than an hour to complete. Download the Lesson04 project files from the Lesson & Update Files tab on your Account page at www.peachpit.com, if you haven’t already done so. As you work on this lesson, you’ll preserve the start files. If you need to restore the start files, download them from your Account page.

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Pineapple and flower photography © Image Source, www.imagesource.com

PROJECT: TRAVEL POSTCARD

In Photoshop, you can isolate different parts of an image on layers. Each layer can then be edited as discrete artwork, giving you tremendous flexibility as you compose and revise an image.

About layers

Every Photoshop file contains one or more layers. New files are generally created with a background layer, which contains a color or an image that shows through the transparent areas of subsequent layers. All new layers in an image are transparent until you add text or artwork (pixel values).

Working with layers is analogous to placing portions of a drawing on clear sheets of film, such as those viewed with an overhead projector: Individual sheets may be edited, repositioned, and deleted without affecting the other sheets. When the sheets are stacked, the entire composition is visible.

Getting started

You’ll start the lesson by viewing an image of the final composition.

1. Start Photoshop, and then immediately hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS) to restore the default preferences. (See “Restoring default preferences” on page 4.)
2. When prompted, click Yes to delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file.
3. Choose File > Browse In Bridge to open Adobe Bridge.
4. In the Favorites panel, click the Lessons folder. Then double-click the Lesson04 folder in the Content panel to see its contents.
5. Study the 04End.psd file. Move the thumbnail slider to the right if you want to see the image in more detail.

NOTE

If Bridge isn’t installed, you’ll be prompted to install it. For more information, see page 3.

This layered composite represents a postcard. You will create it in this lesson as you learn how to create, edit, and manage layers.

6. Double-click the 04Start.psd file to open it in Photoshop.
7. Choose File > Save As, rename the file 04Working.psd, and click Save. Click OK if you see the Photoshop Format Options dialog box.

Saving another version of the start file frees you to make changes without worrying about overwriting the original.

Using the Layers panel

The Layers panel lists all the layers in an image, displaying the layer names and thumbnails of the content on each layer. You can use the Layers panel to hide, view, reposition, delete, rename, and merge layers. The layer thumbnails are automatically updated as you edit the layers.

1. If the Layers panel is not visible in the work area, choose Window > Layers.

The Layers panel lists five layers for the 04Working.psd file (from top to bottom): Postage, HAWAII, Flower, Pineapple, and Background.

2. Select the Background layer to make it active (if it’s not already selected). Notice the layer thumbnail and the icons shown for the Background layer:
   
   • The lock icon () indicates that the layer is protected.
   • The eye icon () indicates that the layer is visible in the image window. If you click the eye, the image window no longer displays that layer.

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The first task for this project is to add a photo of the beach to the postcard. First, you’ll open the beach image in Photoshop.

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Use the context menu to hide or resize the layer thumbnail. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a thumbnail in the Layers panel to open the context menu, and then choose a thumbnail size.

3. In Photoshop, choose File > Open, navigate to the Lesson04 folder, and then double-click the Beach.psd file to open it.
   
   

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The Layers panel changes to display the layer information for the active Beach.psd file. Notice that only one layer appears in the Beach.psd image: Layer 1, not Background. (For more information, see the sidebar “About the background layer.”)

About the background layer

When you create a new image with a white or colored background, the bottom layer in the Layers panel is named Background. An image can have only one background layer. You cannot change the stacking order of a background layer, its blending mode, or its opacity. You can, however, convert a background layer to a regular layer.
When you create a new image with transparent content, the image doesn’t have a background layer. The bottom layer isn’t constrained like the background layer; you can move it anywhere in the Layers panel, and change its opacity and blending mode.
To convert a background layer into a regular layer:

1. Click the lock icon next to the layer name.
2. Rename the layer.

To convert a regular layer into a background layer:

1. Select a layer in the Layers panel.
2. Choose Layer > New > Background From Layer.

Renaming and copying a layer

To add content to an image and simultaneously create a new layer for it, drag an object or layer from one file into the image window of another file. Whether you drag from the image window of the original file or from its Layers panel, only the active layer is reproduced in the destination file.

You’ll drag the Beach.psd image onto the 04Working.psd file. Before you begin, make sure that both the 04Working.psd and Beach.psd files are open, and that the Beach.psd file is selected.

First, you’ll give Layer 1 a more descriptive name.

1. In the Layers panel, double-click the name Layer 1, type Beach, and then press Enter or Return. Keep the layer selected.
   
   

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2. Choose Window > Arrange > 2-Up Vertical. Photoshop displays both of the open image files. Select the Beach.psd image so that it is the active file.
3. Select the Move tool (), and use it to drag the Beach.psd image onto the 04Working.psd image window.
   
   

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If you hold down Shift as you drag an image from one file into another, the dragged image automatically centers itself in the target image window.

The Beach layer now appears in the 04Working.psd file image window and its Layers panel, between the Background and Pineapple layers. Photoshop always adds new layers directly above the selected layer; you selected the Background layer earlier.

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4. Close the Beach.psd file without saving changes to it.

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Need images for a project like this one? In Photoshop, choose File > Search Adobe Stock to download low-resolution placeholder images from the Adobe Stock online photo library at no extra charge. If you purchase the images, Photoshop replaces the placeholders with high-resolution images.

Viewing individual layers

The 04Working.psd file now contains six layers. Some of the layers are visible and some are hidden. The eye icon () next to a layer thumbnail in the Layers panel indicates that the layer is visible.

1. Click the eye icon () next to the Pineapple layer to hide the image of the pineapple.
   
   

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You can hide or show a layer by clicking this icon or clicking in its column—also called the Show/Hide Visibility column.

2. Click again in the Show/Hide Visibility column to display the pineapple.

Adding a border to a layer

Now you’ll add a white border around the Beach layer to create the impression that it’s an old photograph.

1. Select the Beach layer. (To select the layer, click the layer name in the Layers panel.)

The layer is highlighted, indicating that it is active. Changes you make in the image window affect the active layer.

2. To make the opaque areas on this layer more obvious, hide all layers except the Beach layer: Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you click the eye icon () next to the Beach layer.
   
   

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The white background and other objects in the image disappear, leaving only the beach image against a checkerboard background. The checkerboard indicates transparent areas of the active layer.

3. Choose Layer > Layer Style > Stroke.

The Layer Style dialog box opens. Now you’ll select the options for the white stroke around the beach image.

4. Specify the following settings:
   
   • Size: 5 px
   • Position: Inside
   • Blend Mode: Normal
   • Opacity: 100%
   • Color: White (Click the Color box, and select white in the Color Picker.)
   

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5. Click OK. A white border appears around the beach photo.
   
   

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   Rearranging layers

   The order in which the layers of an image are organized is called the stacking order. The stacking order determines how the image is viewed—you can change the order to make certain parts of the image appear in front of or behind other layers.

   You’ll rearrange the layers so that the beach image is in front of another image that is currently hidden in the file.

   1. Make the Postage, HAWAII, Flower, Pineapple, and Background layers visible by clicking the Show/Hide Visibility column next to their layer names.
      
      

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   The beach image is almost entirely blocked by images on other layers.

   2. In the Layers panel, drag the Beach layer up so that it is positioned between the Pineapple and Flower layers—when you’ve positioned it correctly, you’ll see a thick line between the layers in the panel—and then release the mouse button.
      
      

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   The Beach layer moves up one level in the stacking order, and the beach image appears on top of the pineapple and background images, but under the postage, flower, and the word “HAWAII.”

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   You can also control the stacking order of layered images by selecting them in the Layers panel and choosing Layer > Arrange, and then choosing Bring To Front, Bring Forward, Send To Back, or Send Backward.

   Changing the opacity of a layer

   You can reduce the opacity of any layer to reveal the layers below it. In this case, the postmark is too dark on the flower. You’ll edit the opacity of the Postage layer to let the flower and other images show through.

   1. Select the Postage layer, and then click the arrow next to the Opacity field to display the Opacity slider. Drag the slider to 25%. You can also type 25 in the Opacity box or scrub the Opacity label.
      
      

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   The Postage layer becomes partially transparent, so you can see the other layers underneath. Notice that the change in opacity affects only the image area of the Postage layer. The Pineapple, Beach, Flower, and HAWAII layers remain opaque.

   2. Choose File > Save to save your work.

   Duplicating a layer and changing the blending mode

   You can apply different blending modes to a layer. Blending modes affect how the color pixels on one layer blend with pixels on the layers underneath. First you’ll use blending modes to increase the intensity of the image on the Pineapple layer so that it doesn’t look so dull. Then you’ll change the blending mode on the Postage layer. (Currently, the blending mode for both layers is Normal.)

   1. Click the eye icons next to the HAWAII, Flower, and Beach layers to hide them.
   2. Right-click or Control-click the Pineapple layer, and choose Duplicate Layer from the context menu. (Make sure you click the layer name, not its thumbnail, or you’ll see the wrong context menu.) Click OK in the Duplicate Layer dialog box.
      
      

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   A layer called “Pineapple copy” appears above the Pineapple layer in the Layers panel.

   Blending modes

   Blending modes affect how the color pixels on one layer blend with pixels on the layers beneath them. The default blending mode, Normal, hides pixels beneath the top layer unless the top layer is partially or completely transparent. Each of the other blending modes let you control the way the pixels in the layers interact with each other.
   Often, the best way to see how a blending mode affects your image is simply to try it. You can easily experiment with different blending modes in the Layers panel, applying one after another to compare the effects. As you begin experimenting, keep in mind how different groups of blending modes affect an image. Generally, if you want to:
   

   • Darken your image, try Darken, Multiply, Color Burn, or Linear Burn.
   • Lighten your image, try Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, or Linear Dodge.
   • Increase the contrast in the image, try Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, or Hard Mix.
   • Change the actual color values of the image, try Hue, Saturation, Color, or Luminosity.
   • Create an inversion effect, try Difference or Exclusion.

   The following blending modes often come in handy, and can be a good place to start your experimentation:
   

   • Multiply does just what the name implies: it multiplies the color in the underlying colors with the color in the top layer.
   • Lighten replaces pixels in the underlying layers with those in the top layer whenever the pixels in the top layer are lighter.
   • Overlay multiplies either the colors or the inverse of the colors, depending on the colors in the underlying layers. Patterns or colors overlay the existing pixels while preserving the highlights and shadows of the underlying layers.
   • Luminosity replaces only the luminance of the underlying colors with that of the top layer.
   • Difference subtracts darker colors from lighter ones.

   

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   3. With the Pineapple copy layer selected, choose Overlay from the Blending Modes menu in the Layers panel.
      
      

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   The Overlay blending mode blends the Pineapple copy layer with the Pineapple layer beneath it to create a vibrant, more colorful pineapple with deeper shadows and brighter highlights.

   4. Select the Postage layer, and choose Multiply from the Blending Modes menu.
      
      

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   The Multiply blending mode multiplies the colors in the underlying layers with the color in the top layer. In this case, the postmark becomes a little stronger.

   5. Choose File > Save to save your work.

   Resizing and rotating layers

   You can resize and transform layers.

   1. Click the Visibility column on the Beach layer to make the layer visible.
   2. Select the Beach layer in the Layers panel, and choose Edit > Free Transform.

   A Transform bounding box appears around the beach image. The bounding box has handles on each corner and each side.

   First, you’ll resize and angle the layer.

   3. Press Shift as you drag a corner handle inward to scale the beach photo down by about 50%. (Watch the Width and Height percentages in the options bar.)
   4. With the bounding box still active, position the pointer just outside one of the corner handles until it becomes a curved double arrow. Drag clockwise to rotate the beach image approximately 15 degrees. You can also enter 15 in the Set Rotation box in the options bar.
      
      

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   5. Click the Commit Transform button () in the options bar.
   6. Make the Flower layer visible. Then, select the Move tool (), and drag the beach photo so that its corner is tucked neatly beneath the flower, as in the illustration.
   7. Choose File > Save.
      
      

   Using a filter to create artwork

   Next, you’ll create a new layer with no artwork on it. (Adding empty layers to a file is comparable to adding blank sheets of film to a stack of images.) You’ll use this layer to add-looking clouds to the sky with a Photoshop filter.

   1. In the Layers panel, select the Background layer to make it active, and then click the Create A New Layer button () at the bottom of the Layers panel.

   A new layer, named Layer 1, appears between the Background and Pineapple layers. The layer has no content, so it has no effect on the image.

   NOTE

   You can also create a new layer by choosing Layer > New > Layer, or by choosing New Layer from the Layers panel menu.

   2. Double-click the name Layer 1, type Clouds, and press Enter or Return to rename the layer.
      
      

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   3. In the Tools panel, click the foreground color swatch, select a sky blue color from the Color Picker, and click OK. We selected a color with the following values: R=48, G=138, B=174. The Background Color remains white.
      
      
   4. With the Clouds layer still active, choose Filter > Render > Clouds.
      
      

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   Realistic-looking clouds appear behind the image.

   5. Choose File > Save.

   Dragging to add a new layer

   You can add a layer to an image by dragging an image file from the desktop, Bridge, or Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac OS). You’ll add another flower to the postcard now.

   1. If Photoshop fills your monitor, reduce the size of the Photoshop window:
      
      • In Windows, click the Restore button () in the upper right corner, and then drag the lower right corner of the Photoshop window to make it smaller.
      • In Mac OS, click the green Maximize/Restore button () in the upper left corner of the image window.
   2. In Photoshop, select the Pineapple copy layer in the Layers panel to make it the active layer.
   3. In Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (Mac OS), navigate to the Lessons folder you downloaded from the peachpit.com website. Then navigate to the Lesson04 folder.
   4. Select Flower2.psd, and drag it from Explorer or the Finder onto your image.
      
      

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   The Flower2 layer appears in the Layers panel, directly above the Pineapple copy layer. Photoshop places the image as a Smart Object, which is a layer you can edit without making permanent changes. You’ll work more extensively with Smart Objects in Lesson 8.

   TIP

   You can drag images from a Bridge window to Photoshop as easily as you can drag from the Windows or Mac desktop.

   5. Position the Flower2 layer in the lower left corner of the postcard, so that about half of the top flower is visible.
      
      

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   6. Click the Commit Transform button () in the options bar to accept the layer.

   Adding text

   Now you’re ready to create some type using the Horizontal Type tool, which places the text on its own type layer. You’ll then edit the text and apply a special effect.

   1. Make the HAWAII layer visible. You’ll add text just below this layer, and apply special effects to both layers.
   2. Choose Select > Deselect Layers, so that no layers are selected.
   3. In the Tools panel, select the Horizontal Type tool (). Then, choose Window > Character to open the Character panel. Do the following in the Character panel:
      
      • Select a serif font (we used Birch Std; if you use a different font, adjust other settings accordingly).
      • Select a font style (we used Regular).
      • Select a large font size (we used 36 points).
      • Select a large tracking value () (we used 250).
      • Click the color swatch, select a shade of grassy green in the Color Picker, and click OK to close the Color Picker.
      • Click the Faux Bold button ().
      • Click the All Caps button ().
      • Select Crisp from the Anti-aliasing menu ().
      
   4. Click just below the “H” in the word “HAWAII,” and type Island Paradise. Then click the Commit Any Current Edits button () in the options bar.

   The Layers panel now includes a layer named Island Paradise with a “T” thumbnail, indicating that it is a type layer. This layer is at the top of the layer stack.

   

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   The text appears where you clicked, which probably isn’t exactly where you want it to be positioned.

   NOTE

   If you make a mistake when you click to set the type, simply click away from the type and repeat step 4.

   5. Select the Move tool (), and drag the “Island Paradise” text so that it is centered below “HAWAII.”