This project took a lot of time but I really learned some good techniques such as using the Clone Tool and what Copy Merged does! It's amazing what you learn when you know there must be a way to do something but don't know how to do it!
Scott's first round of comments mentioned that he thought the darker Scottie might detract from the other two lighter dogs, so I created a second picture with the Scottie replaced by the lighter colored Jack Russell. You can decide which you like better. I do like the lighter dog, but I also like the new picture better because I cleaned up the dog images even more. Click the link next to the picture to cycle through the two different pictures.
The Picture
- Created with 5 Layers, the 3 dogs, the background with the Sunburst, and the Terrier text.
- The final picture is two layers, the picture frame and the dogs as a merged layer.
- First I cut the dogs out of 3 separate pictures using the Freehand Selection tool and then the Magic Wand to tighten up the selection.
- I needed to do some touch up on all 3 images using Zoom view, the Dropper and the Paint Brush. The touch-up ultimately created a problem when I added the Sunburst to the background layer because now these touch-ups covered up the Sunburst and showed up as black areas. So I learned to use the Clone Tool to touch up these areas to match with the Sunburst. That was really cool!
- The final problem I had to tackle was how to get a border that matched my Week 4 and Layers & Filters JPGs. What I finally ended up doing was opening a new canvas, adding a Border, doing Selection All, then modifying the selection area by using Contract until the selection area is just inside the border. Then I applied the effect Inner Bevel. Since the size of the border canvas is just a smidge bigger than the dogs picture, I Flood Filled the border background with black.
- Lastly I copied the dogs picture as Copy Merged (which gets the entire picture, not just a layer at a time) and pasted it as a new layer in the border canvas.
- I used a Compression value of 28 for this JPG file.
The Settings
- Inner Bevel: Bevel width 3, Image Smoothness 10, Depth 5, Ambience 0, Shininess 80, Angle 315, Intensity 25, Elevation 40 and the color is light grey.
- Drop Shadow: Vertical 9, Horizontal 9, Opacity 30, Blur 5 using a dark grey color.
- Text is Goudy Stout 16 pt. for the Week 4 and Layers & Filters banners that were saved as a JPG files.
- The text for Week 4 uses the Inner Bevel and Drop Shadow effect.
- The text for Layers & Borders uses the Inner Bevel, Topography and Drop Shadow effect.
- The Terriers text uses a Rectangular Gradient of foreground and background colors of Orange #F0752D and a light brown #9C643F matched from one of the dogs using the Dropper.
Another Layers & Filters Project
Click to see the Cat in the City.....
Week 4 Questions and Answers
- What are two different ways that you can add a new layer?
You can add a layer through the Layer New menu option or through the Layer Palette and click the Add New Layer icon that is in the upper left corner in PSP 7.
- What does flattening a layer refer to?
Merges two or more layers and you can no longer adjust the vector objects or the adjustment layers.
- You have a layer and you would like to copy it exactly (duplicate). How would you go about doing this?
I like to click on that layer in the Layer Palette, then choose Copy and Paste as New Layer but you can drag the layer you want to copy onto the Create Layer icon.
- What is the advantage of locking a layer?
It allows you to change areas of a layer without affecting areas of your layer that have no pixel information. The example the book uses is that you can fill every part of a layer except the areas that are transparent.
- How would you go about bringing a layer to the top?
You can use the menu option Layers and choose Arrange Layers, but the way I like to do it is to use the Layer Palette and drag the layers into the order you want.
