Q. How do I get WP Featured images to show up in my RSS feed?
A.Its kind of silly that RSS feed readers can’t figure this out for themselves. This is especially true if you run an image heavy blog that uses feature images rather than inserting the image directly into the post.
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Q. Why are there pink boxes around my type in Indesign?
A. If you are new to Indesign, the pink boxes can be a bit of a mystery. The pink boxes indicate errors in your document. Most often errors with fonts in the document that are not installed on your computer.
While you can work with the pink boxes on in Indesign, they can be annoying. If you want to turn them off, simply hit the W key to change the view of your workspace.
I think many of us, myself included, rely on free and premium resources too much. Why not take a step back and become more involved in our designs? Some DIY style if you will. This post is a collection of ideas on how creatives can use digital cameras to do just that. There are also a few unique ideas for using your digital camera to help you run your business. I hope you find them useful and would love to hear any ideas you might have!
You know all those amazing Photoshop textures, brushes, patterns, and backgrounds you see floating around the web? Many of then are made with nothing more than a digital camera and a eye for design. If you are reading this post, I assume you have both. Take your digital camera with you on any outing you go. You never know when you might find a cool texture or something that could make for a useful Photoshop brush. Need a specific hand drawn doodle for your design? Do it DIY style with a pencil, paper, and your camera!
It seems to me that there are few places to find better color combination than in nature. Of course, if you are trying to build a website full of hot pinks and electric limes, you may need to look elsewhere. That said, I constantly stumble across colors in nature that I think are amazing. Have you ever seen a birch forest? It is an amazing combination of colors. Fall is an especially great time to take your camera out doors to find great colors. Save these photos for reference later or build and save color pallets in Photoshop right away.
If for whatever reason you can’t get a screen shot of your site in a certain browser or on a computer, use your digital camera to snap a picture. Obviously this won’t be accurate interpretation of the website, but it should convey any major visible problems. This is especially handy when your clients are just to computer illiterate to figure out how to take screen shots. Most people these days at least know how to take a digital picture and upload it.
Not that good stock photography is really expensive these days, but why pay for something you could create yourself? Obviously you can’t recreate every image on a stock site, otherwise you would probably be a photographer. But even a amateur with a point and shoot digital camera can create some of the pictures I see on stock sites. Being able to say you not only designed a site, but also did the photography for it isn’t something a lot of designers can say.
While many printers these days come with scanners, not everyone has one. If you are one such person, try using your digital camera as an alternative to a scanner. Before I had a scanner, I used my digital camera to photograph contracts, business cards, and other important documents. I would save them on a separate hard drive from the originals as a form of backup. This method also means you can setup an online fax account and move your business into the 1980′s. This is also another great method for getting signed versions of your contract back from clients without a scanner/fax.
I used to work as a travel writer who reviewed travel gear. As a result, I have seen and tested my fair share of digital cameras. Not to mention that I used to be a professional photographer before I got into design. I have done everything from high volume photography to print magazine work. I bring this up simply because I don’t want you to think I am shamelessly adding some affiliate links for the hell of it. These cameras are really ones that I think are great for designers and creatives.
1. Olympus Stylus Tough-6000 10 MP Waterproof Digital Camera
This is my favorite one for the simple fact that it is waterproof. I do a lot of watersports and outdoor activities, so this is super useful to me. But, even if you aren’t really into outdoor stuff, this is still a great camera. It offers WAY more protection than your basic digital camera. It is shockproof, crushproof, freezeproof, and waterproof. What does that mean? Basically, it means short of dropping it from and extreme height or driving over it, there isn’t much you can do to make it stop working.
2. Nikon Coolpix S70 12.1MP Digital Camera
“The Coolpix S70 introduces Nikon’s newly developed 3.5-incg Clear Color OLED Display with refined touch control that offers a new level of intuitive fingertip shooting control and a variety of exciting playback options.”
3. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX1/H 10MP
“The sleek DSC-TX1 incorporates the “Exmor R” CMOS sensor and boasts stunning low-light performance, reducing grain by more than 50%, even without a flash. High speed burst captures 10fps without distortion and expansive Sweep Panorama shots are easy to achieve with press and sweep motion. Control it all with its 3-inch touch screen LCD.”
4. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 12.1 MP
“The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290 digital camera features Intelligent Auto mode, a 28mm wide-angle lens, automatically detects 8 scene conditions and selects the appropriate camera settings. Face Detection captures faces more naturally and helps prevent blur. Also, now record high-definition videos in 720p HD and enjoy your memories on your HDTV. ”
5. Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP
“Canon’s new EOS Rebel T1i is packed with features, both refined and new. In addition to its admirable performance with an all-new 15.1 Megapixel Canon CMOS sensor, DIGIC 4 Image Processor, a 3.0-inch Clear View LCD with anti-reflective and scratch resistant coating, and compatibility with the EOS System of lenses and Speedlites, the EOS Rebel T1i adds remarkable Full HD video capture at resolutions up to 1920 x 1080.”
Want to learn a little more about digital photography before you invest in a new camera or buy a digital SLR? That is totally understandable. Lucky for you, there are a number of really great sites that teach even the most novice photographer how t create and capture outstanding images. Below is a list of a few of my favorite:
Photo TUTS+ – Nice site full of all kinds of tutorials and a next to no product reviews, which is nice.
Digital Photography School – This website covers every area of digital photography from tutorials, to reviews, to professional advice.
Last week I did a post for GraphicRiver call “The Scariest Movie Posters of All Time.” They were really just a showcase of cheesy old horror movie posters. Because I am such a fan of that style, I thought I would show you how to create poster with a similar style. Its really easy to do and produces an awesome finished product. I was inspired by one of the posters I saw on the list. Can you guess which one?
Create a new document with the following settings: 8×10 and 72dpi and add your background color to white.
Create a red box (#d72323) with a yellow stroke that is 7px wide.
Find a nice picture with a lot of action to use for your background silhouette. I used this picture of a witch from ShutterStock.
Cut out the background as you see fit and add to the inside of your red box.
Adjust the brightness and contrast to the witch layer. Use the following settings:
Add a black color overlay to the image as well.
Use a Gaussian Blur and add a slight blur to your image.
Find a nice picture with a lot of action to use for your background silhouette. I used this picture of a surprised bride from ShutterStock.
Resize your image to fit the design. You will also want to cut out the background as you see fit.
Once you have the picture resized, tilt the image just a little bit and get rid of any portion of the image that isn’t inside the red box.
Destaurate the the image so that you have a nice back and white version of the photo.
Adjust the brightness and contrast to the following settings:
A a yellow color overlay that matches the border color of your red box.
Create a black box and rotate it slightly. This is where our movie title will go.
Add your movie title into the black box. You will need to rotate it slightly to fit the same angle of your box from the previous step. I used a premium font called Calgary Script.
You will also wan to create some additional content for your movie poster.
To finish of the poster and give it that vintage touch, we are going to add an image of some old, folded paper. I used this image of folded paper from ShutterStock.
Add the image as your top layer. Set the layer blend mode to multiply.
The reduce the fill of the paper layer to about 50%
Create a new document with the following settings: 8×10 and 72dpi and add your background artwork as needed. I decided to use Starry Night.
Add your car image and remove any background portion of the photo as needed. I used this stock photo from Shutterstock.
Select your artwork layer and copy the layer. Then select the ground portion of your car image layer.
Go to Edit> Paste Into and paste your artwork layer into the ground portion of your car image.
You will have to rotate and flip the layer you made in step 4 to create a mirror image of your artwork layer.
Once you have done that, add a gradient fill to the layer.
Create a simple black box near the bottom of the page.
Add the finishing touches such as text and car companies logo. I used this logo.
This tutorial shows how you can use extreme shadows and highlights to create a trendy and powerful NFL magazine advertisement. This tutorial is interesting, as it really walks you through the process from start to finish, and the changes that happen along the way. It shows that design aren’t perfect from conception.
Find a cool close up picture of a sports player. I used this stock photo from Shutterstock, but there are plenty of free images just like it elsewhere.
On your main image, go to Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object
Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Shadows and Highlights. Follow the setting below:
Next, create a new Levels Adjustment Layer. Change the setting to the following:
Now we need to stamp a copy of this layer. Hold down command, ALT, Shift, and then press E.
Next, desaturate the layer by going to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate
Then invert the image
Set the blend mode of that layer to Overlay
With the inverted layer selected, ad a Gaussian Blur with the following settings:
Click on the Levels Adjustment panel and change it to the following settings:
To create a more sharper image, add a Unsharp Mask filter. Use the following settings:
Create a new layer with the following settings:
Get a Brush Tool with a small size and set the Opacity to 10%
Paint over any major creases and facial details to help darken them more.
Get a Brush Tool with a small size and set the Opacity to 10% and set the foreground color to white.
Paint over any bright spots to help them stand out, like the eyes or teeth.
Select the background of your image.
Delete the background of your image and add some sort of storm cloud image to the background.
Set the layer Blend Mode to Overlay.
Adjust the Curves of this layer a little to make them a little more stormy looking.
Add some Noise using the filter with the following settings:
Start adding some text to your poster. I used:
And slight reduced the opacity of the text.
Add some finishing touches like the NFL logo and some filler text.
I wasn’t liking how the color of the clouds looked with the rest of the image. So I adjusted the Hue/Saturation.
Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to the following settings:
Be sure to proof read your designs! I noticed some typos in my design and changed them.
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