Easy Embellishments

How to add vector art to photos

A simple way to spice up a photo is to add a touch of clip-art. Now, I’m not talking about the cheese-ball stuff that comes with Microsoft Office, oh heck no. I’m talking about the amazing, yet affordable stuff that you can get from folks like iStockphoto.com (click the link to receive 10 free, high-resolution images!).

The cool thing is that you can add such artwork to your Photoshop document as a Smart Object (Photoshop CS2 and latter). In doing so, Photoshop remembers everything about the original file—what kind of file it is, its original dimensions, and so on. This gives you the ability to resize the artwork infinitely without having to worry about losing quality. There are a couple of different ways to add vector art as a Smart Object, so choose the one that’s... more

Learning to Love Levels

How to color correct your photos like a pro using Levels

Ed. Note: This article first appeared in the most amazing magazine ever, called Elements Techniques. It's packed full of tutorials just for Elements users, along with all kinds of photography tips. You can subscribe to it by clicking this link.

When you think of all variables that come into play when you're capturing images, it's a wonder any of ‘em turn out halfway decent at all. Just think about it: Unless you're hauling around your own light kit, you're dependent on ambient light sources—which are less than perfect on a good day—and then it’s up to you to set the camera properly so you don’t over- or underexpose the image. Even if the stars are aligned and you get all that right, the camera itself may introduce a color cast. Arg!

Thankfully, Elements has several tools that can help fix most any lighting or color problem you might have. For example, you can... more

Quick Color Change

How to repaint an object using the Hue mode

When it comes to changing the color of an object, there’s an easy way and a hard way to get it done. The hard way involves creating a selection, as discussed in in the Repainting Cabinets tutorial. An easier way is to use a blend mode instead. Read on!

Meet the Hue mode

Blend modes let you control how color on one layer interacts with color on another. The Hue mode, in particular, keeps the lightness and saturation (color intensity) values of the base color (your object’s original color) and adds the hue (another word for color) of the blend color (your new paint layer). If you want to change the color of an object without changing how light or dark it is, you can use the Hue mode. However, this mode can’t introduce color that isn’t already there, so... more