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by Lucas Heijn
Sometimes the most difficult part is knowing where to start. Have you ever had someone show you just how to do some something. They go click, click, and click - Done! And you’re none the wiser; You see everything is easy once you know how. That’s my purpose here. It is to help you see it as easy. So let’s look at these four steps.
First Step: Choose Size
After opening up Photoshop click on “File” and then “New”. Now choose the size of the new graphic. Usually this is determined by what you plan to do, what is the purpose of the graphic. In this case we are going to create a web page header. Header sizes are determined by the size of the page they are to be applied to. In this case we are creating a header for a sales page. These are usually about 700 pixels by 120 pixels.
Second Step: Decide On A Background.
There are 3 options. The background can be a solid color, a gradient, or a picture.
If we choose a solid color we need to specify what color we want. We can do this on the floating toolbox, usually on the left-hand side of the work area. You will see 2 color boxes one over the other. Click on the top box and a color chooser comes up. Choose your color. Now click on the bucket tool. If you don’t see a bucket tool move your mouse over the tools until you find the gradient tool. Right click on the gradient tool and you will see two options, gradient or bucket.
Once you have chosen the bucket tool, move your mouse over the new graphic you are creating. You will see the mouse pointer turn into the bucket tool. Just one click and you have your chosen color as your background.
If you decide that you want a gradient as your background, you will need to turn the bucket tool into the gradient tool. Once again you will need to choose a color. This time you will need to use both boxes. The gradient starts with the top color and finishes with the bottom color you have chosen.
You will notice that on the top bar above your work area you now have some new options. These will allow you to choose the look of your gradient. Experiment with this until you find something you like. To create the gradient, click and hold down the mouse and drag a line from one end to the other. Where you click is the start of the gradient and where you drag to is the end of the gradient.
Importing a picture into your graphic as a background is easy. All you need to do is open a file with the picture you want to use. Make sure that the picture is larger or equal in size to the graphic you are creating. With your mouse just drag and drop the picture into your new graphic. Now just move it around to where you want it. That’s it.
This works with JPEG Files but does not work with Gif files.
Step 3 Layers
Photoshop works with layers. Each time you import something or introduce more text you create a new layer. To the right of your work area you should see “Layers”. Click on it and now it will display all the layers in the graphic. Clicking on a layer in this box will make it the active layer, and you will be able to work on this layer.
You could now import a picture. Just use the drag and drop method mentioned earlier. When you do this you will notice that not only do you get the picture but also some background you don’t want. You can remove this with the eraser tool.
If your background is all one color, let’s say white, you can use the magic eraser. Right click on the eraser. Three options will appear. Choose “Magic Eraser”. Move your mouse to the part of the picture you want to get rid of and click. In one click it will remove the unwanted background of the picture you dragged in. While you are in that layer you can move this picture to where you want it by picking it up with your mouse.
Step 4 The Text
In Photoshop your text is also a layer. Each time you insert new text you create a new layer. You are able to move the text around as you can any other layer.
On the left hand tool box click the “T”. Move the mouse to the area where the text is to go. Click the mouse and start typing. You can choose the font, size and style as in any other Windows program.
Now the text can be jazzed up a bit to make it stand out. On the top bar is “Layers”. Click on this and from the drop-down box choose “Layer Style”. This opens up a host of options such as; drop shadow, inner glow, bevel & emboss, stroke and others. Just play around with these and you will soon see what they do. Try them. You will see instant results without committing them.
There you are you have finished a simple but professional graphic you could use in a web site.
There is only one thing left to do. Save it. First save it in Photoshop PSD as this will allow you to come back and edit it. Next if you wish to use it as a web graphic you can “Save it for Web and Devices”. This will create a smaller faster loading file for web pages.
Tags: html, xml, hosting, css, web+writing
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