Had photoshop for a week now!

And I think I'm not making any progress.
I'm mostly making banners for my friends stickam entertainer profiles,
or random things.

I even made myself a div for my myspace haha

I've noticed that when I cut images, they look funny,
so I need to learn that better.

Anyone have pointers?

Here's some examples of my work (so far):





or go to my myspace and see my div layout i made (its public):
www.myspace.com/melanyfrigginrawkz

 

Are you sure you are using photoshop for onl a week? Your work looks real good! I cant think of anything to improve considering your just a beginner but you could perhaps increase the contrast of the photocraphs and maybe add some tints to the photographs (using color overlay) so they blend in with the background better. You look cute and so do your friends

 

When it comes to cutting, I just use the polygonal selection tool. However, because it selects only in straight lines, you'll usually end up with a funny looking image with jagged edges. So I start with an image at a high resolution, then cut it. Then scale it down, the jaggedness becomes a lot less noticeable and whatever jaggedness you do see, can be covered up with good blending of foreground effects and what not.

Example:
Here's my stock image, after cutting with the selection tool. Super jagged and looks like total lamesauce basically.



Here's the end result (a tag), after scaling it down and blending it with some foreground effects.

 

for teh background you did a great job but you can improove the way of including the images

@gomezfx this is a 2 minute job right? I used the polygon some time ago it'S harder then the pen tool if you're used to it but it's possible to get better results even with the polygon lasso

 

Ya, took me like a min to cut it, but you don't even see how bad it looks if you can cover it up.

 

Well I use the eraser and just put it to like 20% opacity. But thats my probably, takes FOREVER.
Maybe I should try to use the polygon and learn how to blend it lol

BottonUpSites, thank you! Yes only a week, actually less, more like 5 days haha

When I'm determined, I can learn fast. I watched like 3 youtube editorials, then dived in haha

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll have to try it all tonight

 

I'd try learning to cut images out with the pen tool. You get a much better result.

For a week, you are doing really well. But right now you are at the stage I think everyone gets too, you just got there a lot sooner. . That stage is where you just download a ton of brushes and fonts. And while you did create something that looks pretty good, it could be better (and you will get better with time).

It really depends where you want to take your skills. If you want to keep making banners for people and stuff. I would learn how to retouch pictures (mostly with the stamp tool), and better blending skills.

Here are some tutorials for that:
http://patronus-light.deviantart.com/art/Retouch-Photos-Like-the-Pros-46532621
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/07/15/70-beauty-retouching-photoshop-tutorials/

Let me know where you want to go with your skills though. You are really good and have great potential. I hope these tutorials help

BTW, I love your myspace layout.

 

Thanks SO much veckd, that REALLY helped alot!
I bookmarked those tutorials.

I really would like to make banners/layouts and web design,
in the future. I know I'm no where near being able to do so yet.
But I hope to get there one day.

But I'd also like to know how to retouch photos,
of myself and for friends, because I'm into photography.
So your tutorials are really going to help me in that area!

 

I'm glad I could help
if you need anything else, you can pm me. I'd be happy to help out.

 

I use feather to soften the edges before cutting it..

 

Create bit of work missmelany.

I've been lecturing in the subject of Adobe Photoshop now for nearly 10 years in colleges and Universities within the UK. This is the standard I'd expect after a month of using Photoshop - keep up the great work.

My advice is stick to the polygonal lasso tool - you can't go wrong with it. Use the delete or backspace key to 'unpick' each 'stitch'...take you time. Also, don't use the 'feather' option on the option bar when making a selection. I have found, from experience that it is a dangerous feature, leading to alot of time waste - if you forget to set it to the correct amount next time you use a selection tool...nasty! Use select>feathering (select>modify>feather for CS3+). Far better.

Good luck!

 

The magic wand marquee tool is very useful to cutting our background - that's what I mostly use to get rid of big chunks. Then just use the standard box marquee tool to get rid of any remaining stuff.

But I have to agree, what you've learned in a week is very impressive.

There's a few setting I'd suggest you play around with and learn how they all work:

1) Opacity - this lets you fade layers. It's one of the most useful tools in Photoshop.

2) Filters - In the Filters menu, you can add a huge number of neat effects, and even render stuff in 3D.

3) Layer Styles - they are like filters, but more simplistic. You can find them in the Layer -> Layer Styles drop down menu.

 

Pen Tool - Takes the longest but is by FAR the most accurate, just pen, adjust the bezier curves then make into a selection with a slight feather (0.5-3px depending on resolution)

The nice thing is you can save your pen paths too for later incase it doesn't look right after turning it into a selection

 

What version are you using? CS3?

also, you might want to check out Fireworks. It's just as powerfull and a little easier to use. It can help jumpstart you into Photoshop even faster!

Dan

VamBoom Creative

 

I'm using CS3 :]

Thanks for all of the advice! I'm going to put it all to use
and see what I can come up with next!

The opacity is a smart idea, my friend also brought that up to me.

I've never used the feather tool, but I think I'll try to!
I've tried the pen tool, and OMG! It was so hard lol

 

keep on trying the pen tool you need to get used to it if you are many things will bekome a lot easier

 

good job, dude. keep it up

 

great job so far.

here are some cool sites to check out
dafont.com (1,000's of different fonts)
deviantart.com (search for "photoshop brushes" or "tutorials")
good-tutorials.com (has a large amount of photoshop tutorials)