MomShots

FEATHER and FILL (Yep, you get 2 for 1 this week!)

FEATHER

First, I will tell you a bit about the FEATHER option in Photoshop (and PS Elements). Once you have made a selection, with ANY of the selection tools (we will discuss making selections later). The most common use for feathering is when you want to vignette.

You can do a vignette several different ways, but for this I will have you make a new layer at the top of the layers stack by clicking on the new layer icon that looks like a piece of paper with the corner turned up (in Elements the icon is at the top of the layers palette and at the bottom of the layers palette in CS and newer). Fill this new layer with a solid color using the paint bucket from the tool bar. I suggest trying black first, just to get a sense for what the FEATHER does.

Next, you can use the ellipse tool and drag out a selection around your main focus of the photo, and make sure you have the new layer active. You then go up into the MENU BAR and choose SELECT > MODIFY > FEATHER. The amount of the feather depends greatly on the effect you want to achieve (I will suggest starting at about 15, if that is too much, use undo (CTRL Z) and then go into the FEATHER menu and lower the number. After selecting the FEATHER amount, click OK.

Keep in mind that when the FEATHER actually does its job it FEATHERS the selection both inside and outside of the selection area.

With the marching ants of the selection still marching, hit the DELETE key on your keyboard. Voila you have now made your first vignette. The FEATHER is causing the soft gradient effect where you had your selection. If we hadn’t applied the feather, you would have had a very sharp, harsh edge where your marching ant selection was.

What other glorious things can the feather do? Well not much, it just feathers any selection that you apply it to. With this in mind, when you make a selection around a person to “add” into a new photo/background, add a slight 3-5pixel feather to the selection, so that when you drop them into their new space, they don’t “look” like they were cut out and dropped in. You can ALWAYS spot bad Photoshop when an object or person appears to be pasted in.

FILL is next on my list.

Did you know that you can FILL a layer with more than just a solid color?

NO?! Well, you have got to try this!

This will work in both Photoshop and PS Elements.

Open up a new blank file and go up into the MENU BAR and select LAYER > NEW FILL LAYER > SOLID COLOR. And guess what, you get a dialogue box! You can turn on a clipping mask from this dialogue box (in Elements it is a group with previous layer option), but we aren’t going to talk about clipping masks today. I just want you to make a mental note that it is an option in this box. You could change the blending mode here if you want to, or you can ignore it and change it later in the layers palette. Also, you can choose a color from the drop down menu (PS Elements doesn’t have the color drop down menu, but don’t worry you will have the COLOR PICKER when you click OK). There are a limited number of colors available here, but don’t worry about the list, because when you click OK, the COLOR PICKER window pops up and you can choose your color from there. You can use the EYEDROPPER here, but only if you have a second window open in Photoshop, because this FILL LAYER shows a preview over the file you are working on. Once you have your color, click OK.

OH SO EXCITING! So now I want you to repeat the steps again and this time choose the gradient fill option. As a reminder, go up into the MENU BAR and select LAYER > NEW FILL LAYER > GRADIENT. Again, you will get the pop up dialogue box, with all of the same options as the SOLID COLOR. When you have your selections made, click OK, and you will get a dialogue box with options for the gradient you will apply. There are several types of gradients in the gradient drop down, pick one. Then, choose a style, there is a live preview, so as you click through the options you will see the effect they will have, so play around until you have something you are happy with and click OK.

Now that you have tried the gradient, let’s move on to the pattern fill! Once again follow the steps we took before, but this time choose the pattern fill. Go up into the MENU BAR and select LAYER > NEW FILL LAYER > PATTERN. You will again get the same dialogue box. Click OK. Now you will see the PATTERN option box. The little down arrow next to the pattern thumbnail will give you different patterns. From this pattern selection box, you will also see another small right pointing arrow (more options), where you can load other patterns into the selection box. After selecting a pattern you are happy with, you will want to play around with the scale slider. I would leave the check mark in the link with layer box, because it keeps the pattern in line to the layer. And I haven’t found a use for the snap to origin button yet, but when I do, I will let you know.

*SPECIAL NOTE* You can also fill a layer with a pattern by using the paint bucket tool. After you make the paint bucket active you can drop down the menu where it says FOREGROUND and choose PATTERN. After you choose the pattern option, the little thumbnail becomes active and you can drop this menu down to choose your pattern or click the side arrow to load more patterns or access other options.

For my final words this week, I say play, play, play! AND of course, experiment with the options that are available. You never know when you will get a “happy” accident!