You may be wandering how Photoshop can used to create 3D effects, worry not! We have come up with a wonderful tutorial in Photoshop, which will guide you step by step, to create 3D Movie Poster, just by using Photoshop Techniques. In this tutorial we will learn how to convert a movie poster into a 3D movie poster.

Step 1

Open Photoshop and open (ctrl + o) the image in it.

Step 2

To make the image look more better and interesting, lets make some changes to the image.
To start with open eye on fusion and call the image into it with the loader tool.

Step 3

Go to file> preferences
Goto frame format> create a new profile> Name it ‘Footloose Poster’ and make the following changes:
Width = 1349
Height = 2000
Frame rate = 24
File size = 16
(Same as the Image size)

Step 4

Add a Text 3D Tool (Tools>3D>Text 3D)
Write down 3D in it with an Arial Black Font
Change the Bevel depth to ’0.1660819′

Also in the shading section change the colour to
Red = 0.6823529411765
Green = 0.5764705882353
Blue = 0.9411764705882
And specular settings to

Red, Green and Blue to 0.5686274509804 each.
Specular Intensity = 0.1052632

Step 5

Add a spot light (Tools>3D>Light> SpotLight), connect it to Text 3D (join both the Red Outputs so that a merge 3D is created) and move it to
Translate X = 1.08472
Translate Y = 0.9168134206591
Translate Z = 1.495973
Rotation X = -21.25822
Rotation Y = 35.65326
Rotation Z = 4.348969

Step 6

Add a Direction Light(Tools> 3D> Light> Direction Light) and reduce its intensity to 0.0497238

Step 7

Add a point light(Tools>3D>Light>Point Light) and change intensity to 0.55

Step 8

Add an Ambient Light(Tools>3d>Light>Ambient Light) and change intensity to 0.0497238

Step 9

Add a Camera 3D tool (Tools> 3D> Camera 3D) and move it to
Translate X = 0.954627793541
Translate Y = 0.4419056094258
Translate Z = 1.53529

Rotation X = -12.32788
Rotation Y = 29.839
Rotation Z = -6.02046

Also change the focal length to 20

Step 10

Add a Renderer 3D and check on enable lights and enable shadows

Step 11

Add a Transform tool (Tools> Transform> Transform) and change the centre X and Centre Y to 0.8435812813026 and 0.2271221779609 respectively.
Change the size to 0.197583572621
Check the changes made by placing the original footloose image into the Background of this output.

Step 12

After finalizing the position and angle of the text, make a Render by placing a Saver tool to the flow in front of the Transform Tool

Step 13

Now import the newly created 3D text image into Photoshop and place it over the footloose poster.

Step 14

Change its layer style to
Drop shadow:
Blend mode: Multiply, opacity: 75%, angle 139 degrees.
Distance, spread and size to 5, 0 and 5 respectively.

Outer Glow:
Blend Mode: Screen opacity: 27%
Color: d7b8ff
Spread and size to 0 and 250 respectively.

Step 15

Add a text layer with text ‘in’ and font Arial, bold and size 100
Change the layer style to
Drop Shadow:
Blend Mode: Screen, colour: c093ff
Angle: 139 degrees
Distance, spread and size to 17,0 and 2 respectively.

Bevel and emboss:
Style: inner bevel
Technique: smooth and depth 42 degrees.
Size: 13 and Soften: 3
Highlight mode opacity: 54
Shadow mode opacity: 40

Step 16

Add an adjustment layer Hue/ Saturation below the in layer and mask 3D text layer by selecting the 3D text layer and painting the mask inverted to black
Change the Hue, Saturation and Lightness to -6, 27 and 7

Step 17

Add another adjustment layer curves on top of all and change the curve to an S shape curve so that the contrast of the image increases.

Step 18

Merge all the layers and add sharpen(Filters> Sharpen> Sharpen) on the image

Step 19

Duplicate this layer and rename the layers as right and left
Reduce the opacity of the top layer to 50%
Move it 3 pixels right and 3 pixels down and rotate it around 1 degree clockwise to get a blurry image.

Step 20

Bring the opacity of the top layer back to 100
Go to Image> adjustment> Channel Mixer and reduce the red to 0; this will make your image cyan

Step 21

Now Hide the top layer and select the bottom layer
Go to Image> adjustment> Channel Mixer and change the output channel to Blue and reduce the blue to 0
Now change the output channel to green and reduce the green to 0
Doing this will make your image red.

Step 22

Now go back to the top layer and unhide this layer.
Change the blending mode to screen.

Step 23

Just crop the image to remove the side cuttings and now you are ready with a 3d poster.

Final Result

Final Image

This is the image that we’ll end up with by completing this Photoshop tutorial:

Step 1

Open Photoshop and hit Control + N to create a new document. Enter all the data shown in the following image and click OK. Next, enable the Grid (View > Show > Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap To > Grid). For the moment you need a grid every 2.5px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides, Grid & Slices and focus on the Grid section. Enter 2.5 in the Gridline Every box and 1 in the Subdivision box.

Also, set the grid color at white (#ffffff). Once you set all these properties click OK. You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes.

Step 2

Set the foreground color at #006d33, pick the Rectangle Tool and create a 920 by 15px shape. Make sure that this new shape is selected and switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select the bottom, left anchor point and move it 50px to the right then select the bottom, right anchor point and move it 50px to the left. In the end your shape should look like it does in the second image.

Step 3

Reselect the shape created in the previous step and go to Edit > Transform Path > Warp. Select Arc Upper from the Warp menu, check the Orientation button, enter 70% in the Bend box and hit Enter. Make sure that this green shape is still selected and go again to Edit > Transform Path > Warp. This time select Bulge from the Warp menu, check the Orientation button, enter 60% in the Bend box and hit Enter.

Step 4

Set the foreground color to #fed700, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 920 by 25px shape and place it as shown in the following image.

Step 5

Set the foreground color to #9f0b0b, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 907.5 by 2.5px shape and place it as shown in the following image.

Step 6

Set the foreground color to #00bff3, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 920 by 7.5px shape and place it as shown in the following image.

Step 7

Set the foreground color to #ec008c, pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 920 by 12.5px shape and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this new shape is selected and switch to the Direct Selection Tool. Select the top, left anchor point and move it 45px to the right then select the top, right anchor point and move it 45px to the left. In the end your shape should look like as it does in the second image.

Step 8

Reselect the shape created in the previous step and go to Edit > Transform Path > Warp. Select Arc Lower from the Warp menu, check the Orientation button, enter 80% in the Bend box and hit Enter. Make sure that this pink shape is still selected and go again to Edit > Transform Path > Warp. This time select Bulge from the Warp menu, check the Orientation button, enter 50% in the Bend box and hit Enter.

Step 9

Focus on the Layers panel and double click on the green shape created and edited in the first steps. This will open the Layer Style window. Check the Inner Shadow and the Gradient Overlay then enter the properties shown in the following images.

Step 10

Keep focusing on the Layers panel, find the shape edited in the previous step, right click on it and click on Convert to Smart Object. Make sure that this new smart object is selected and go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Enter the properties shown below and click OK.

Step 11

Move to the yellow shape and open the Layer Style window. Enter the properties shown in the following images and click OK. Make sure that you save the gradient when you get to the Gradient Overlay section. Just click on the New button and pick a name for your gradient and click OK. You can find your newly saved gradient in the Presets window.

Step 12

Move to the Layers panel and convert the shape edited in the previous step to a smart object. Select it and go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Enter the properties shown below and click OK.

Step 13

Reselect the thin, red shape created in the fifth step and replace the red with #231f20. Move to the blue shape and open the Layer Style window. Enter the properties shown in the following images and click OK. Pick the gradient saved in the eleventh step when you get to the Gradient Overlay section.

Step 14

Convert the second shape edited in the previous step to a smart object. Select it and go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Enter the properties shown below and click OK.

Step 15

Move on to the pick shape created in the seventh step. Replace the pink with #929497, open the Layer Style window, enter the properties shown below and click OK.

Step 16

Reselect the shape edited in the previous step and duplicate it (Control + J). Select this copy, lower its Fill to 0%, open the Layer style window and enter the properties shown below.

Step 17

Reselect the two shapes created and edited in the previous step and convert them to a smart object. Select it and go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Enter the properties shown below and click OK.

Step 18

Pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool and set the radius at 10px. Create a 120 by 25px shape and place it as shown in the first image. Open the Layer Style window for this new shape, enter the properties shown below and click OK.

Gradient Overlay Blending Options Settings

Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
Style: Linear
Angle: 0 degrees
Scale: 100%

Step 19

Focus on the Layers panel. Reselect the shape created in the previous step and drag it right above the shape edited in the eleventh step. Right click on the shape created in the previous step and simply click on Create Clipping Mask.

Step 20

Pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool and set the radius to 5px. Set the foreground color to #231f20, create a 25 by 2.5px shape and place it as shown in the following image. Open the Layer Style window for this new shape and enter the properties shown below.

Step 21

Pick the Ellipse Tool, set the foreground color to #484a4f, create a 7.5 by 5px shape and place it as shown in the following image. Open the Layer Style window for this new shape and enter the properties shown below.

Step 22

Reselect the shape created in the previous step, make three copies (Control + J) and place them as shown in the following image.

Step 23

Select all the shapes created so far and duplicate them. Select these copies, convert them to a smart object and send it to back (Shift + Control + [ ). Open the Layers Style window for this new smart object, activate the Drop Shadow, enter the properties shown below and click OK.

Step 24

Select the shapes created in steps #21 and #22 along with the smart object created in step #10 and duplicate them. Select these copies and convert them to a smart object. Select this new smart object and go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Drag this flipped smart object a few pixels down (as shown in the second image) and lower its opacity to 50%.

Move over to the Layers panel, add a layer mask for this smart object and use a black to white gradient to mask it as shown in the fourth image. Select all the shapes created so far and group them (Control + G). Move to the Layers panel, double click on this new group and name it "Body".

Step 25

Move to the Layers panel and open the group created in the previous step. Find the top three shapes and make them invisible. Pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool and set the radius at 20px. Set the foreground color at #0f0f0f, create a 700 by 480px shape and place it as shown in the first image. Convert it to a smart object, open the Layer Style window and enter the properties shown in the following images.

Step 26

Pick the Rectangle Tool, create a 450 by 520px shape and place it as shown in the first image. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool, select the top, left anchor point and move it 300px to the right. Make sure that this new shape is placed right above the shape created in the previous step then right click on it and click on Create Clipping Mask.

Step 27

Reselect the shape created in the previous step, lower its Fill to 0%, open the Layer Style window and enter the properties shown below.

Step 28

To fill the screen we’ll use a simple photo. You can easily find a macbook desktop screenshot on Flickr or on DeviantArt. Find the one that you like, download it, drag it inside your PS file, select it and go to Edit > Free Transform. Make it 660px wide and 412px tall and hit Enter.

Place this resized image as shown in the first image then drag it below the shape edited in the previous step. Finally, select this photo along with the shapes created in the last three steps and group them (Control + G). Select this new group, send it to back (Shift + Control + [ ) and you’re done.

And That’s All!

Now we have reached the end of our journey through the tutorial. We hope that it was helpful and easy to follow along. Feel free to leave us your thoughts on the process and finished product in the comment section.

We can new start this tutorial.

STEP 1 Create the document

Open Photoshop, then go to menu File > New. Enter the name and sizes 1,000 x 3,000 pixels. Press the OK key.

You document is automatically displayed.

Select the Paint Bucket Tool (G). and fill you background with this colour: #d8aa55.

Download the wood texture published on Grafpedia : Free Textures. Select the file (2) and import it into your document/ Press keys Ctrl+T to activate the free Transform, and if needed, resize it.

To finish, add a layer mask and set a black foreground gradient -> clear from the bottom to the middle, to hide the bottom part.

Go now to menu Layer> Fill Mask and enter this colour: #f4cf7b. Change the Layer Mask to soft light. Right-click on your mouse on the Mask et select Create a ecretage Mask.

Duplicate the texture and the mask, then go to menu Edit> Transform> Flip Horizontal. Use the Move Tool (M) to put this copy on the bottom of the Template.

STEP 2 Create the title

Use the Text Tool (T) to add the title and the subtitle (Font used: Androgen)

Add the layer styles below.

Create a new layer (menu Layer> New> Layer). Use now the Rectangle Tool and the Ellipse Tool (M) to create a selection similar to the one of the picture below.. Fill this selection (never mind the colour you choice).

Copy the layer styles added on the title and paste them on this new shape.

Go to icon finder to find icons and put them into each round.

On each icon, add layer styles.
Regarding the brown icons :

For the green icon, use the same drop shadow, but switch the brown gradient to a green one. Add also an inner Glow as well as an inner Shadow.

See the result below.

Do same thing on the right, then use the Text Tool (T) to add one text area. Regarding the link closing the text, I only set the text to bold and I added a small arrow.
Find these arrows on this page : http://www.grafpedia.com/vip-downloads/20-pixels-arrow-pack-1

Select now the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and change the radius to 120pixels. Create a rectangle on your picture and add on the layer, same layer styles than the layer styles used for the title.

Use same tool to create a second rectangle into the first one.

Copy the styles from the green icon and add them onto this new shape.

Use the Text Tool (T) to add the button description. Add a simple drop shadow on the text.

See below the result of the header.

STEP 3 First block

Create a new group to duplicate the title and the menu. Place these copies into the new group.

Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), with a radius of 6pixels to create a rectangle. Add the styles coming from the title, to this rectangle.

Set the foreground colour #fdfaf6 and use again the same tool to create a second rectangle.

And a third one and duplicate it and hide the copy.

Select the layers of the withe rectangles and press on the Ctrl+E keys to merge them.

Add a drop shadow.

Display now the preview copy of the rectangle and add the styles from the green button (created on the top of the Template). Go now to menu Layer>Layer Mask> Reveal all and use black foreground gradient -> transparent to hide the right part.

With the Text Tool (T) add an icon and a title. On each layer, add these two layer styles.

Use same method to create similar links but brown this time.

See below the result.

Import some pictures from your book (here the last Templates published on Grafpedia).

Now, to simulate the hover, on one of the thumbnails, add a colour overlay (black 60%) and over one icon with the green gradient.

Notice that you can download over 27,000 Photoshop gradients from Grafpedia, helping you to customize you Templates.

STEP 4 Contact Form

Create a new group (for the contact block) and duplicate one more time the logo, the menu and the content. Update the titles to create the contact titles.

In the white block, use the Text toll (T) to add a text and the labels of the contact form.

Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) with a radius of 6 pixels to create two inputs, a text area and a button.

Add on the button the styles from the green button (on the top of the Template) and on the inputs, the following styles:

Use the Text Tool (T) to add the title of the green button.

See below the result.

STEP 5 Social networks

Create a new group and duplicate one more time the logo.

Use now the Ellipse Tool (U) to create a round (do not forget to keep the Upper case key pressed while creating your round). Then add an icon inside.

Add on the round, the style from the logo and on the icon, add the style from the small icons of the menu (Only update the Gradient to make it clearer on the top).

With same method, add all icons to heading towards your visitors to your different accounts.

After, on the icon with the over effect, add on the round the styles from the green button et on the icon, add the styles from the button text (if needed, add a white colour overlay).

Use under, the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U and the Custom Form Tool (U) (with the triangle shape) to create a rectangle and a triangle (with the colour #242321).

Group the two shapes. Use the Text Tool (T) to add the counter as well as the title of the button.

Use again the Rectangle Tool (U) to create a button.

Add the following styles on the button:

See below the result.

STEP 6 Footer

Now you are going to create the footer, right on the bottom of your Template. Create first a new group you name Footer. Create now a new layer, use for it the Rectangle Tool (U) to create a black rectangle #000000. Reduce the opacity to 60% and add a drop shadow.

Go to iconfinder.com and add an icon.

Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) to create a rectangle. For the small arrow, use the Pen Tool (P).

Use the Text Tool (T) to add the end text of your website.

The Copyright on the right.

On the top of the header, use the Rectangle Tool (M) and the Ellipse Tool (M) to create a shape like the one on the picture below.

Use now the Custom Form (U) with the Triangle Form to create an arrow (only create a first triangle and a second one over the first one, using same colour than the one of the round).

See below the final result of the Template.

Photo quality is a very crucial to a website that displays pictures and snapshots. The first step to taking photos is to select a good quality camera that has the desired features to take prime quality shots. Features like pixel count, aspect ratio, sensor size, lens specification, sensitivity, digital and optical zoom, white balance, output format, memory and interface are very important to decide on the right type of camera for your requirement. Once you have ensured the photographic equipment is what you are looking for, your next step is to invest in the right graphics tool to hone the images further to perfection.

There are several photo-editing tools available in the market which will be responsible to give your picture the final shape, look, size and appeal before it is uploaded on to the website. You need to check for several features to ensure your end product is of life like quality. Some of the key feature categories are: importing, editing, sharing, organizing and output. Within the import category look at what are the media through which you can import files like digital camera, video camera etc. Within the editing category you can look for masking, layering, filtering, patterns and effects, paintbrush and retouch tools, panorama etc. The organizing elements should feature archiving, album creation etc. and the sharing and output categories should include the desired sharing, uploading and exporting features. Exporting and sharing like other categories are also very important as you may need to reduce the size of the picture however with no impact in the sharpness and quality of the photo.

There are several tools available that organize your photo’s on your website along with multiple captions attached to it. The purpose is to create a consistent and continuous joint between your catalogue and e-commerce marketing. Alternatively you can also create and embed your own catalog tool on your website. This works by storing all your images on your server and then making use of the client and server side technologies to upload the images along with its relevant textual information with an option to zoom in the image if the images are in a thumbnail format.

While uploading the photos, view how well the photos blend into your web page. Completely avoid a user having to use a scrollbar to view the full photo and use your album application to resize the image into a smaller size. Also minimize the number of thumbnails visible on a page. This is skin feature dependent. It is a good idea to select a skin and style that goes well with your website color scheme and layout. Choose the skins that are more flexible to most of the layouts and style patterns. Basic CSS and HTML knowledge can help you play with your album skins to have a perfect photo and webpage blend.

You have more chances of customers revisiting your site if you keep changing your snapshots and pictures, picture effects and styles to indicate the variety you may have of your product. For example if you are a footwear manufacturer with a portfolio on the web, it is crucial that you display new pictures or photos every time. Monotony from looking at the same pictures on every visit to the website may discourage the customer from considering a purchase, even though you may have a thousand plus variety of footwear at your outlet.

Quick Ground Rules

1. Play nice! We’ve deliberately chosen photographs that aren’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
2. Feel free to offer any type of advice – composition, lighting, post-processing etc.
3. You can also link to photographs that you feel offer a great example of this type of image shot exceptionally well.

Without further ado, here is this week’s candidate for Friday Photo Critique!

The Photograph

Photo Details & Inspiration

• Nikon D90
• 60mm
• f/16
• 1/60
• ISO 200

At a local elementary school near my college, a few students from my school were playing the game Duck, Duck, Goose. I wanted to capture the moment, and yet still wanted to show the movement, so I sat in the center of the circle and captured this panning shot.

Photographer: Siddharth Atre

Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached the scene or taken the photo differently? A massive thank you to everyone who commented last week.

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own photo? You can do so here!8

The Limitations of Auto

The problem at hand is that automatic mode is not going to get you the best photos. Although technology will continue to improve and cameras become successively smarter, the best technology is still no match for a skilled artist. Understanding how a scene looks to a camera and choosing the settings on your own is a liberating experience that will free you from the bounds of automatic mode and allow you to progress to the next level of image making.

Quick Review: The Exposure Triangle

The key to understanding these settings is understanding what they control. For the purpose of this tutorial, we need to review the settings that control the look of our images.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of the exposure triangle, the idea is that three camera settings control the outcome of our photos. Keeping those three settings in balance is the key to making a photo appear the way you want. Let’s take a look at those three settings:

This simple exposure triangle illustration shows the three factors that balance the light equation of every photo.

Shutter Speed

One of the most commonly understood parts of the exposure triangle, shutter speed is a measurement of the amount of time that the shutter stays open to expose the sensor. This means that when you press the shutter button, the shutter opens up, revealing the digital sensor. The longer the shutter stays open, the more light reaches the sensor.

If we use a very fast shutter speed (something like 1/1000th of a second), the shutter won’t stay open long, freezing the action in the scene. Long shutter speeds like 1/2 of a second or even a full second will leave the shutter open and let lots of light reach the sensor. When photographing with long shutter speeds, moving objects will appear blurred.

Aperture

Inside of almost every lens are “blades.” These blades form what is known as the aperture, and also contribute to the exposure by controlling the amount of light that passes through the lens to the sensor.

These aperture blades can be “stopped down” or closed in order to allow in less light, or opened up to allow more light through. Each lens, however, has aperture limitations, and you’ll find lenses with very wide open apertures are more costly.

Aperture also controls depth-of-field. Depth-of-field is the zone if front of your camera that is in focus. Imagine a person standing in front of a bookcase. If you use a wide aperture like f/2, the person’s face will be in focus and the bookcase will be blurry. This is called a shallow depth-of-field. Conversely, if you use a narrow aperture like f/16, the bookcase and the person’s face will be in focus.

The aperture blades of a lens regulate the amount of light passing through. Photo by niXerKG.

ISO

ISO is the camera sensor’s overall sensitivity to light. In the film days, film was sold at different ISO “speeds.” These classifications are now dynamic, as we can change the ISO from shot to shot with digital cameras. At lower ISO’s (like 100 or 400), the sensitivity to light is low, but the image quality will be the strongest. As we raise the ISO, we can pull more light from a scene, but at the cost of noise or graininess in our photos.

A note about ISO: although ISO is a part of the exposure triangle, it is somewhat independent of the modes below. Many cameras feature an auto ISO mode in which you select a maximum ISO, and the camera selects something within that range.

The Bucket Analogy

One way to understand this is to imagine filling up a bucket. The size of the bucket is the ISO. 100 ISO is a big bucket needing a lot of water to fill up. How far you turn the faucet handle is the aperture, and how long you leave the water on is the shutter speed. F/2 for example is a wider aperture, a gushing faucet. F/16 is a narrow aperture, a dripping faucet.

In order to fill the buck with F/16, you’ll have to leave the faucet on for a long time. That is, unless you have a very shallow bucket, like ISO 3200.

This analogy is very helpful for some people, for others it’s just confusing. If you’re confused, that’s alright, just keep moving on.

Let’s take a look at how the modes manipulate these settings.

Automatic Mode

Use it when: you are just getting started and are focusing on making lots of photos.

If you’ve not dared to venture away from the settings the camera had out of the box, your camera is likely still in automatic mode. In automatic mode, the camera is going to pick all of your settings for you. This is an easy mode, and is the most common choice of beginners not concerned with settings. It will likely even pop up the flash for you when needed!

However, this mode will never allow you to reach your potential as a photographer. Sure, the camera will choose settings that make your photos look “good enough”. If that’s all you want from your images, that’s fine. But if what you desire is making great photographs and growing as a photographer and artist, check out some of the modes below.

Program Mode

A step up from auto mode, program mode differs slightly from camera to camera. In my experience, one of the major differences of program mode is the ability to decide if we want to use flash. If you don’t pop up the flash, it will stay down, unlike in automatic mode when the camera decides on flash’s usage. Additionally, program mode also features the ability to “shift” settings, so you can push aperture or shutter speed in one direction or another.

Shutter Speed Priority

Use it when: controlling the action in a scene is most important

In shutter speed priority mode, the camera allows you to select a shutter speed and then the camera selects the aperture that will properly expose the photo. You’ll find this setting handy when you’re trying to control motion in a photo. Let’s take two extreme examples:

In the first example, you’re sitting on the sidelines of the football pitch catching a family member’s game. You take a few photos in automatic mode, but every photo is coming out blurry. The problem at hand is that your camera doesn’t know that you need to capture action.

Shutter priority mode is the perfect chance to fix this issue! Simply switch to this mode and choose a fast shutter speed to freeze action. In this mode, aperture takes a backseat to controlling the shutter and ensuring sharp subjects.

This photo by Flicker user sffoghorn used a fast shutter speed to freeze the kicking action.

In another example, you’re on a hiking trip in the mountains. You’ve come across a waterfall and although you’ve made a few great photos, you can’t help but feel like your photo isn’t taking in the power of the falling water.

The problem is that you’re freezing the water in a spot, and not capturing the falling water as our mind remembers it. In this case, we need two things: a stable surface to place our camera on, and a slower shutter speed. With a slow shutter speed, we capture a range of action and show the water falling.

Mastering shutter priority can help you to tackle unique shooting situations. These two scenarios show how learning just one mode on the camera can help to attack two unique issues.

Aperture Priority

Use it when: controlling depth-of-field is most important

In aperture priority mode, we have precise control of the aperture setting, regulating the amount of light that passes through the lens. The biggest effect that aperture has on the “look” of an image is the depth of field.

If you’ve been studying photography, you’re probably familiar with the shallow depth of field look. If your image has a shallow depth of field, you’ll find that one point of the image is very sharp, while everything else is comparatively soft.

As we mentioned earlier, with wider apertures like f/1.8 or f/2, the depth-of-field is reduced, thus reducing the amount of the image that is in focus. Again, let’s take two scenarios in which controlling aperture is important.

The shallow depth of field, created by using a large aperture in Flickr user’s andrewasmith photo, draws the eye to the subject and helps to eliminate background distractions.

In the first of these photos, we’re shooting a portrait that has a distracting background. We want to eliminate the distractions of the background, so we’ll choose a large aperture, which is a small number aperture. Using aperture priority allows us to push the aperture down to f/2 easily, and thus focus the viewer’s eye on only one thing in the photo.

Next, imagine that we have a group photo with people on several “layers” or rows. In this example, we need greater depth of field – an increased area of sharpness. We’ll use aperture priority to select a smaller aperture (larger number) and thus increase the area of photo that is in focus.

With an understanding of aperture priority mode, the number of scenes you can tackle is greatly increased. Combined with shutter priority mode, you’re quickly learning about how to control the photographic situation you’re placed in.

Manual Mode

Use it when: you’ve outgrown every other mode!

Manual mode puts everything in the user’s hands. You’re tasked with selecting shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Being in manual mode is liberation as a photographer. It is up to you to select the perfect settings, and only the camera’s meter can help you in doing so. Selecting all of the factors allows for complete control over the outcome of a photo.

Try to find the right line when shooting in manual mode. Some beginning photographers are too afraid to ever jump in and try. In contrast, others are too quick to do so and really blow an event by being overzealous with settings. Although you should try to push outward and try new settings, pushing too far and not being prepared to shoot in the proper settings can be dangerous.

Scene Modes

Your camera might feature a number of other modes that are tailored to scenes, like fireworks, sports, or landscapes. These differ from camera to camera and are nothing more than a few custom settings. For instance, a sports mode will tend to push shutter speed higher.

I’ve known a few beginners who were inclined to stick with their current camera because they didn’t want to leave these settings behind. However, if you know how to use some of the modes above and can understand the scene you’re working with, you can design your own perfect settings on the spot.

Conclusion

Diving into using alternate modes is not as scary as you might think! Checking out some of the other settings of your camera is necessary to growing as a photographer and artist. Choosing a different shooting mode is a great way to begin controlling a scene and photographing it just as you see it.

Learn how to apply a ghostly effect to your photos.

The image I’ve used for this tutorial can be downloaded here.

With your photo opened in Photoshop, go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate.

Next duplicate your background layer twice by dragging it to the new layer icon at the bottom of the layers panel.

With the middle layer selected, choose Soft Light from the blending options box.

And with the top layer selected, change it’s blending mode to Hard Light.

Next we’ll begin to blur each layer individually.

First select the bottom layer, and go to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur.

Set the Angle to -90 degrees, and the Distance to 15 pixels.

Next select the middle layer…

…and Motion Blur again, this time at 80 pixels.

Finally select the top layer…

…and Motion Blur with the Distance set to 200 pixels.

Next we’ll lighten the image slightly to give it a faded look.

Click on the adjustment layer icon at the bottom of the layers panel, and choose Brightness/Contrast.

The Brightness/Contrast layer should appear at the top of the layers panel.

Set the Brightness to +20 and the Contrast to -30.

Finally we’ll add a dark vignette.

Add a Gradient adjustment layer by clicking on the adjustment layer icon and choosing Gradient.

Use a black to transparent Gradient with the Style set to Radial, and the Scale at 150%.

Here’s how your photo should end up looking.

For this design, we used  different shades of neon pink and violet  on top of a black background.

We positioned the title of the event near the center of the print and made sure that it had a distinct font size and color.

We picked an illustration that gives a preview to the type of mood guests can expect during the event.

We’ve placed the sponsors at the bottom of the print. A few inches above them are the featured performers of the event.

Need practice creating nightclub flyers, or want to do a Photoshop exercise? Follow our lead and recreate this night club flyer from scratch using Adobe Photoshop CS5.

Step 1

Create a new document and copy the settings below.

Now double click the layer, hit OK and name it "Background." Afterwards, add a gradient to it by double clicking "Background".

Check the Gradient Overlay and copy the settings below.

Using the pen tool, trace around the picture of the girl and paste it on the background.

Step 2

We’ll then add more color to the background. Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and name it "dots." Select brush tool (B) and start putting big and small dots on the background. Make sure that you set the Hardness to 0 and Brush opacity from 10% to 40%. Use these colors for your brush: Violet=EA00FF/ Blue=004CBD

After combining the two layers, this is how it should look like.

Step 3

Create a new layer (Ctrl+Shift+N) and add a backlight by selecting brush tool.  Use the same shade of Violet=EA00FF and set the opacity to 100. This time, set the Blending Mode to "Linear Dodge (Add)."

To make the light brighter, add a smaller white brush on top of the violet brush then set the Blending Mode to "Linear Dodge (Add)" Linear Dodge illuminates the base color and reflects the blend color.

Scatter the light more by repeating the process above. Try to experiment with different sizes and opacities. Afterwards, lower the saturation of the girl by -40 (Ctrl+U). This is what we came up with.

Step 4

Open this image of abstract lights in Illustrator and paste it to your artwork in Photoshop. Paste (Ctrl+V) it and choose "Pixels."

Desaturate it by pressing Ctrl+Shift+U.

"Send Backward" by pressing "Ctrl [" several times until you're one layer above "background."

Erase the edges of the abstract lights. Use 0 (zero) hardness of eraser tool so it'll blend with the background effectively.

Step 5

And now for the fun part! Add a light streak around the girl's body. Create a new layer and name it "light streak." Select Pen tool (P) and make sure you select this icon (refer to image below) on the upper left part of Photoshop.

Draw a swirly line around the girl's body.

Select a white brush (B) [10 px; 0% hardness] with a 100% opacity. Right click and apply the setting below.

Again, select Pen tool, right click and click Stroke Path.

Choose "Simulate Pressure" on the checkbox and hit "OK."

By now, you should have a white line spiraling around the girl. Delete the path by pressing "Delete" on your keyboard. Your artwork should look something like this.

Add more glow to that swirl by double clicking "light streak" layer and following the settings below.

Now erase some parts of the light streak by using the Eraser tool (E).

Remove the lower part of the girl’s body using the Eraser tool with 50% opacity.

Step 6

Add some nice silhouettes of dancing people behind her. Use Illustrator to cut this part out.

Paste the image to Photoshop and position the silhouettes just like in the image below. Name these layers "girl silhouette left" and "girl silhouette right." Afterwards, select the two layers by clicking the second layer while holding "Ctrl."  Press Ctrl+[ several times until you’re above "dots" layer.

This is how it should look like now.

Step 7

The initial design is finished. Now we’ll add some important information about the event.

Using the Pen tool, draw a triangular shape on the upper left part of your design.

Next, draw a rounded rectangle above the girl’s arms.

Use the setting below.

For the text: just click "T" and start typing using "Arial" as your font.

Lower Kerning to -80.

Add some effects on the event title by double clicking that layer and following these settings.

The event title should look like this.

Make sure to include the name, date, featured performers and location of the event on your design. And don’t forget to add the sponsors near the bottom of the flyer.

And there ya have it!

For questions, suggestions and any reactions regarding this tutorial, please leave a comment. Thank you!

Minimalist designs have been with us for quite some time now, emerging from nowhere a couple of years ago. It is easy to spot all over the place as everybody longs for such a design and everybody looks to have it. People pay lots of money for revamping their websites and minimalism seems to be everybody’s direction right now.

I do believe designing minimalist websites improve your skills because there is a reason why minimalism is popular. After more than 20 years of cluttered web pages, Flash animations, large Photoshop graphics and so on, it’s time for minimalism to shine. It is indeed time to only show the information which really needs to be shown. That is if you are a good designer, obviously. Not everybody can properly design in this style – but this is a total other discussion, so let’s get back to our topic.

Minimalist designs bring in a friendly environment without clutter and confusions. Web pages are now easy to look at and are quick to analyze even by an untrained eye. After so much time of the old web era, people kind of had enough with web pages that were nearly impossible to grasp. So there is indeed a reason why minimalism is so popular. But can it indeed improve your skills?

Working on typography

One of the elements which stand out in the new web era is typography. It is also probably one of the most important elements on a website. Text becomes an element on its own in today’s design and all of us have to work hard to achieve that perfect balance. It can be picking the right font, the perfect size or a good contrast – every one of these plus many others are crucially important in perfecting your website’s typography.

Unfortunately, although it is clearly important, typography is something that is often neglected by designers. Choosing the perfect font takes a lot of time and many designers simply do not have it (or do not want to spend time on it), therefore Arial and Helvetica seem to fit every website. Well this might have been true a few years back, it is not valid anymore. Learning to properly work on typography as an element of minimalist design will definitely help you achieve something not every other designer can.

Don’t just choose random fonts. Play with them, have a palette of 10-15 and switch them around until you will get the desired effect.

Attention on the main element

Another asset of the minimalist design is the main element which is always in focus. As mentioned earlier, there is no place for clutter or any other elements which are not necessary to the website’s target. This makes designers choose only one element and focus on it. Putting the whole focal point on one element is always a challenge, but by doing it many times you will find this is a very useful skill.

Being able to make something stand out, and at the same time make the other things visible as well, is not something every beginner designer can do. If you ask me what a good designer is, then I will tell you that a good designer is the one who can put elements in focus and forget about the rest. Just because you can fill the whole web page with things doesn’t mean you are a good designer.

Closing in on perfection

When designing minimalist sites you need to focus on everything, even if it is a small pixel. Because they are so simple, it is easy to notice flaws in it, therefore designers need to close in on perfection and make every single pixel look good. If there is one element that looks bad on your page, it will stand out. By designing in a minimalist way you will learn to be “pixel perfect”. There is no other way of creating a good minimalist design.

Many minimalist designs are built on a grid system, although it is not always easy to spot it. By designing like this you will also learn to use grid systems while designing and coding. Grid systems are something I am in awe of and I think you should be too. They make your website look so much better and organized that it is almost impossible not to like it.

Use negative space

There is no minimalist design without a lot of negative space (also called “white space”). New designers are afraid of using it because you kind of need a lot of visual experience in order to make it work well. Not every piece of your page needs to be filled in with something, but this is a concept not everybody fully understands. The faster you learn and acknowledge it, the better you will be at designing minimalist layouts – and the better your skills will be.

The reason behind us using negative space is that minimalist pages only contain few elements – so the rest of the space needs to be filled in with something. In this case, because we want to avoid clutter, we fill it with the background color. Why would knowing how to properly use negative space make you a better designer? Because this concept is rather new and being able to properly use it everywhere will give you an edge over the others in the business.

Getting everything right

It is not only about being pixel perfect. It is also about incorporating as few elements as possible while also conveying the wanted message to the visitors. This forces us to get every small element right. You do not want anything to stand out from a negative stand point and you want every element to express something. Every element has its purpose and doing a perfect job means you can’t remove any more element without affecting the site’s goal.

Know your work’s value

By this I mean you should know the work you have done is the best you could come up with. You might meet some clients now and then who, only because there are way too few elements on the layout, are not willing to pay. This is the moment when you will need to explain them why that specific layout is good for them.

Knowing the strong points of your work is a skill you need to learn and designing minimalist layouts will help you achieve it – with a bit of help from difficult clients though. It might not be a skill you will use too often, but it will come in handy in your freelance career for sure.

Bottom line

Only knowing what minimalist design means doesn’t make you a perfect designer, just like only knowing theory doesn’t necessarily mean you can also put everything into practice. In other words, there are some skills which you can get in two ways: the hard way (reading books, spending money on conferences, spending too much time on research) or the easy way (learning by doing).

I have tried this myself and the conclusion is incredible. Learning is way faster when you do it by actually working. By following the advice in this article you will find yourself in the middle of a win-win scenario. You will learn to design better minimalist layouts and will also gain helpful skills for your career.

Until next time! What do you think about the topic discussed here? Do you think it is easier to learn by doing, or in some other way?

Content was, and will always, be king. Google loves new and fresh content. But generating new and interesting content was getting tough. There were top ten lists that everyone was doing (read over doing) and there were videos not everyone could pull off or were boring. So there was a huge demand for something in between.

What makes an infographic go viral?

So, what is an infographic actually? It’s basically information graphics, where by otherwise boring and bloated information is made interesting by using graphics. Fair enough. But what makes it viral?

1. Information in digestible capsule format

Infographics always comes in an easily digestible format. Small, cute and interesting graphics make the data even easier to understand and amazing. Today, many infographics we see are otherwise boring information, that are made interesting by using graphics.

2. Data that is useful

Most infographics have informational data that is really useful to people.  Like this one.  The information is so useful that you want to print it out and hang it on your door for quick reference, this is the compelling factor of any infographic.

3. Catering to our short-term attention spans

Today, all of us have a very short attention span. We cannot spend more than a minute on anything on the internet. This is the reason why even when all the information is available on Wikipedia, we don’t read it all. But with infographics, we grasp everything even with our short-term attention span.

So, how do you market an infographic today?

That is our question today. With so many infographics being churned out lately, how can you stand out and be difference from the rest? Let’s take a deeper look.

1. Submit infographics to Infographic Directories and Blogs

There are several places that accept infographic submissions and feature all of them in a very nice way. There are no processes to get into though, all you have to do is submit the infographic and hope that it will be displayed on the site. Most directories do not have an acceptance policy which means that the infographic will be displayed the moment you submit them with a link to your original source. Some of them however take some time to review the submission and publish it in due course.

Here is a good list of blogs and directories:

1. Visual.ly
2. Chart Porn
3. Flickr Infographics Group
4. Daily Infographic
5. Charts Bin

2. Make a paid submission to Stumble Upon

Stumble Upon is a great resource when it comes to visually pleasing content. They have a dedicated category for infographics that will get you thousands of hits every month if you submit your infographics. But getting in there can be tricky. If you make the submission from a weak account, then chances are that the infographic will be buried. But instead of taking the risk, make a paid discovery on stumbleupon. The standard Paid Discovery plan is a flat fee of $0.10 per unique visitor. There are also options for higher and lower priority serving. But its a highly effective way of marketing your content to the right people.

3. Keep the tools ready for social sharing

The basic necessity for any infographic is to make sure it can shared on social networks. When people view the infographic, make sure there are enough social bookmarking tools beside it to ensure easy sharing to all networks (or the ones that are relevant to your market). While this sounds like a seemingly basic thing to do, many bloggers and designers get caught up with making the infographic so perfect that they miss out the very basic purpose of it. Which is to get as many links from other blogs as you can and build social media traffic.

4. Submit to Reddit’s Infographic Subreddit

Reddit is where the new memes and sensations of the Internet appear first. It’s from where the rest of the social networking sites, get inspired for great content. And Reddit has an exclusive subreddit at (reddit.com/r/infographics) for infographics. Stuff posted here will probably not appear on the front page, but will be featured on many blogs and Tumblr feeds as there is a big community of infographics fans watching over the subreddit.

5. Leverage the Pinterest community

Pinterest is in the spotlight these days. With praises from funding managers and social media gurus alike, this seems to be the new thing in the valley. And rightly so, because like StumbleUpon, Pinterest gives you some amazing traffic for visually pleasing images and cool pins. Infographics is one category that always gets a lot of repins and likes on Pinterest. And for each repin and like, the chances of getting a new visitor to your site is increased. Watch out for the referral stats on Google Analytics.

6. Influential Blogger Outreach

Another powerful way to market your infographics is to get one of the influential people in social media to share your infographic. It could be someone with a lot of Twitter followers or Facebook friends, or even a page that has a lot of fans. Of course, you cannot go blindly and ask them for a tweet but if your infographic is good (which I assume it is), search for an influential social media user from the same niche as your infographic. For example, if your infographic is on “Valentine’s Day and Love” you might want to consider approaching couple of the female social influencers on the list. Talk to them and hit a deal, like two tweets at the peak hour for $50. There are many unlisted social media influencers out there who can do it for you. Just that you need to spend some time finding them.

Summary

Infographics are a great way to get some attention, build your brand, build links and get some viral social media traffic. It hits all the above points with one stone, and that’s the beauty of it. But since the idea of infographics is getting over done these days, the solution is to come up with newer illustrations, newer ideas and visualization techniques that grab people’s attention. The wow factor is very relevant here. All you have is the first 3 seconds. If you can get their attention in the first 3 seconds, you’ve won. All the best.

But one thing holding back these pint-sized lenses is the sensor behind them. It has long been the bane of digital photographers everywhere that the dynamic range of their DSLRs and point and shoot cameras did not match what their eyes and brain saw. It is true that current cameras have a practical dynamic range of about 7-9 stops of light (EV), while the human eye can capture about 14 stops at any given point of time. Couple this with the fact that slide film has a range of about 12 stops and you can see why current digital cameras are lagging.

And thus, the computer world started crafting a solution to the problem it created and has called it HDR. For now, HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, meaning something larger than what the camera spits out by default. It is a useful tool to get images closer to what the human eye and brain experience in a given situation but it has its limitations. In this article I will touch on some tips and suggest an app that I have found useful in creating iPhone images with more dynamic range.

Know Your Limits

Eeek! Past the limits of the app

The thing to realize is the HDR images you will get out of your mobile device are not currently up to the quality achievable with a DSLR and a quality HDR program costing $100 or more. But that is ok. Eventually phone apps will get there. All of the apps I tested only allowed 1, 2 or 3 images to be shot when the best results happen from upwards of 7 or 9 images being shot at various EV settings. Don’t sweat this limit too much, just know that it is there.

What this comes down to is not pushing the limits of dark and light in a scene beyond what the app can handle. It takes some trial and error, but I have found a good rule of thumb to be; if you have to squint while looking at the darkest areas of a scene, because of the brightness in the other parts, you’re not going to get a good shot. Let me show you an example of a shrub in dark shade and a bright, but overcast, day from my local coffee shop.

Notice the white fringe between the shrub and the parking lot? This is because the limits of the app are reached and the sky is quite bright. It’s best not to attempt a shot in this case with the limits of this app. This hard line between dark and light is always problematic in HDR, just as it is for our eyes in real life. When possible, avoid very sharp contrast for a more realistic look.

Another limitation is the scene you are shooting and this is the same for DSLRs or smartphones. The basic premise with shooting HDR images is that multiple images are shot at different EV settings. This means a certain amount of time will elapse between shots. As the images are then combined, this can cause ‘ghosting’ of objects which are not in the same location in each shot. Look at your scene and plan how the shoot will happen. If there are objects close or moving fast, timing will be important. The more static the scene, the less chance you will have of ghosting.

This also goes for you, the photographer, and moving while shooting. You will need to be still when using apps that take multiple images. If moving, a single shot app might be more useful. The image below is an example of slight movement and what it can do to a program that doesn’t correct for this parallax.

And this zoom shows what happens when the subject moves.

The last issue deals with the nature of the phone as compared to a DSLR or P&S camera. Most cell phones and smartphones don’t have a tripod mount. When shooting HDR, it is helpful if the multiple images are shot from exactly the same perspective to save time trying to line up the images in the computer afterward. The same is true with smartphone HDR but these phones lack a tripod mounting hole. There are solutions on the market, like the Joby Gorillamobile which can attach to a special case for the phone and give you the best chance for accurate image overlap. The best apps have the ability to further align the images, knowing that humans have a tendency to move. Look for an app with the capability.

The Best Conditions For Shooting HDR

Knowing when to employ the HDR capabilities of your phone and when to leave the scene be is an art that takes practice. With repetition, you will start to recognize scenes for their dynamic range and if HDR is needed. You will also get good at predicting if there is too much movement in a scene to attempt HDR.

To help shortcut your learning curve, let me offer some prime times to employ HDR apps:

• When slight shadows are apparent.
• If there is a light source in the scene that isn’t too over-powering (like the sun). The app can bring down the brightness of the light source, which might otherwise trick your standard camera app into thinking the scene is brighter than it is.
• When you want to capture a bit more cloud detail on a bright day.
• To slightly remove deep shadows on a face.

The easiest way to determine if HDR is needed when you are just getting started with the technique is to take a shot using a normal camera app. If the shadows are too deep or the sky is blown out, then try an HDR app. The nice thing about these apps is they are always be with you!

My HDR App Of Choice: ProHDR

I’ve tested a number of HDR apps for the iPhone, including ProHDR, TrueHDR, HDR Fusion and the default HDR capability of the iPhone 4s. Of these, I have enjoyed the capabilities of ProHDR as well as the images it produces. I should also note that the default iPhone Camera app works fairly well, but without some of the adjustability that ProHDR has. Of the four, I found HDR Fusion to give the least usable results.

ProHDR is $2 for both the iPhone and Android and comes packed with useful features. Let’s step through the shooting process to see where its strengths and weaknesses lay.

Right out of the (virtual) box, the app is ready to go. It uses a full screen tap feature so you don’t have to aim for a small shutter activation button. It has a zoom slider on the bottom and the ability to turn on or off the flash (which will leave the iPhone LED illuminated constantly rather than actually flashing it, handy as a backup flashlight). Buttons are also available for using the rear facing camera as well as overlaying the screen with a simple Rule of Thirds grid.

That button at the bottom for Settings brings up the following screen.

Geotag and Share Resolution are two of the more important sliders. If you don’t want everyone knowing where you shot your images, turn this off. Also, if you have a limited cellular data plan, choosing your Share Resolution is important.

Once you are ready, press anywhere on the screen and the app takes over, first telling you to not move a muscle. It will change the EV on the phone from bright to dark to check the best exposure settings to use in the two images it will take (personally I wish this was set at three instead of two, but there is always hope when they upgrade). If you don’t want to use the auto process, you can manually select the metering points to fine tune your images.

After analyzing the screen, the app will take two pictures.

It then kicks into the editing screen.

This screen will allow you control over the final image if you desire. The sliders increase or decrease: Brightness, Contrast, Saturation, Warmth and Tint. If you like the image as it stands, simply press Save and the image will be placed on your Camera Roll. Pressing Done will give you the chance to back out of any changes and cancel saving. Share brings up the following options:

Crop is for getting rid of areas of the frame you do not wish to be present. Filter offers 21 of the normal image filters which have become popular. Frame adds 15 stylish frames.

When all is finished, I have been happy with the results this app produces. Here is an example of the previous scene as first shot with ProHDR and then with the HDR feature of the iPhone Camera app turned on.

Notice the difference in tone and saturation in the sky? The colors in the ProHDR version appear more solid and less blown out to me. When done well, an HDR image shouldn’t be easily identifiable as such and I would say this app does the job well when the limitations are taken into account. It is not a replacement for a DSLR and a dedicated program meant to run on a desktop or laptops machine, but the quality is coming around.

Whichever app you choose to shoot HDR, the technique can take practice to master, as with any art form. The first step is realizing your images can have more latitude and then deciding if an HDR app will work best for you. From there, you will need hold still (or invest in a phone tripod) to make your vision of what is in front of you something worthwhile to share with friends.

Good luck and happy shooting!

Tutorial Details

   
• Program: Adobe IllustratorCS3-CS5+ Phantasm CS;

   

• Difficulty: beginner;

   

• Estimated Completion Time: 20 minutes;

Step 1

Choose a bitmap image and paste it into your document workspace.

First let’s see what the standard feature of the Halftone in Adobe Illustrator offers us. Select the bitmap image and go to Effect> Pixelate> Color Halftone.

We can see a number of values in the dialog box. Does this mean something for you? For me neither. In addition there is no possibility of changing these values and observing what happens to the image. Well, randomly click on OK.

Step 2

Oops! That’s exactly not what I wanted. Fortunately, I know what to do. Let’s go back to the settings of the effect by clicking on its name in the Appearance palette.

Set 0 for all the channels and click on OK.

Step 3

Oh, where did the red color appear from? Keep the object selected, go to Object> Live Trace> Trace Options … and set the parameters in the dialog box as shown in the figure below.

Why am I setting these parameters? Because I have experience. Now keeping the object selected, go to Object> Expand Appearance, then Object>Expand.

All the elements have turned into vector objects, let us take a close look at what we got.

What can I say? You can be experimenting with the parameters of Color Halftone and Trace Options for hours, and I still will not guarantee that you will get an acceptable result.

Now let’s see what Phantasm CS offers us.

Step 1

After installing the plugin, the entry with its name appears in the bottom of the Effect menu. Select the bitmap image and go to Effect> Phantasm CS> Halftone ….As you can see, the dialog box of this effect includes many features, and we can observe changes the image by controlling these features.

Step 2

Get yourself familiar with some of these functions, and then apply our knowledge into practice. You can choose form the color image type: Monochrome, RGB, Sampled.

If you choose Monochrome type, you can specify the color of the effect.

Step 3

By setting the DPI, you can specify the number of points of effect.

You have an opportunity to choose from the type of Pattern, it can be a Grid, FM or Radial.

Each type of Pattern has additional configurations.

Step 4

You can control the coordinates of the effect, for example, in the case of radial type of the Pattern, you can specify the coordinates of its center.

Step 5

Halftone can consist of different objects: circles, squares, lines, characters and even symbols from the panel of the same name!.

Step 6

You can scale shapes which the image consists of.

If scaling is not proportional, you can get ellipses or rectangles, in addition, you can change their slope.

Of course, in this small tutorial I did not describe all the features of this effect, so simply install this plug-in and experiment with it.

Step 7

After applying the effect, the image stays raster. Turn it into a vector. Go to Object> Expand Appearance.

Great! We got perfect circles. I think you cannot even compare this with the base effect of the Halftone in Adobe Illustrator neither in quality nor speed of execution.

Step 8

Now let’s apply Phantasm CS in practice. All the features of the plugin that were described by me can be applied not only to bitmap but to vector images as well. Let’s try using Halftone from Phantasm CS trying to create interesting text effects. Take the Type Tool (T) and create a word Ã?«LIGHTÃ?».

Keep the text selected, go to Object> Expand and Effect> Phantasm CS> Halftone … Set the parameters listed below.

We got text consisting of rectangle.

Go to Object> Expand Appearance and swap fill with stroke.

Step 9

Create a different effect, this time with the word �«NEON�».

Apply the Halftone effect to it with the parameters specified below.

Go to Object> Expand Appearance, then Object> Expand and click on Unite from the Pathfinder palette.

Now we can move some elements, as shown below.

Step 10

Now let’s create the effect using a symbol. First, create a symbol. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a circle, fill it with radial gradient from yellow to orange color.

Create two more circles of red color. The bigger circle lies in the underlayer below the smaller one, and has 0% opacity. Select both circles and go to Object> Blend> Make.

Unite both objects created in this step.

Step 11

Group up the created objects and drag them to the Symbols palette.

Select the text and symbol in the Symbols palette, and go to Effect> Phantasm CS> Halftone …, pick the value in the dialog box and choose the Selected Symbol in the Dot Properties section.

Conclusion

I think you tested the functionality of Phantasm CS, now it only depends on your imagination. I created a text effect using this plug-in and the Color Dodge Blending Mode. You can find more information about this technique in my tutorial Neon.

Along the way, we will be practising how to produce the meteor effect, the impact effect, particle and fire effect, as well as some layer blending tips.

This effect is inspired by Mass Effect 3 in-game graphics, which is just really awesome

For custom sticker printing orders look for an online printer who offers an easy file upload process.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

Step 1

Create a new document sized 1200px *720px with black background. Load the planet PSD file into Photoshop, drag all layers onto our document, resize it as shown below:

Expand the "Cloud" folder, go to the "Cloud Shadow" layer, and reduce the layer opacity to around 30%:

Use a soft erase, erase the edge of the render layer so it blends into the background a bit:

Use either the cloud filter, or the cloud brush you downloaded, add some cloud effect on the edge of the planet:

Step 2

On top of the planet layers, let’s go and add the following the adjustment layers:

Black and white

Layer mask on the black and white adjustment layer:

Colour Balance

Levels

Layer mask on the levels adjustment layer:

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

Now let’s try and make this meteor effect. Create a new layer and grab a 30% hardness round brush, paint an orange dot as shown below:

Distort this dot twice, as shown below: (Ctrl + T, right-click to choose distort)

Duplicate this layer, and apply the following Hue/Saturation  (Ctrl + U) settings to this duplicated layer:

This will make the duplicate layer colour brighter than the original – Reduce the size of the duplicated layer slighting and move it to show the glowing part in the centre

Duplicate this layer again, apply the following Hue/Saturation settings:

This will turn the last layer to white – again we resize it and then merge all three layers together, compress it down as shown below:

Duplicate this merged layer a few more times to make the meteor trail path wider and longer, and here is the effect so far:

Step 4

We will now work on adding more effect for the impact. For this tutorial, I firstly use a soft white brush to paint some highlights on a new layer, use free transform tool to adjust the light shape if necessary:

We can then duplicate this meteor effect around the planet, as shown below:

Hint: add some smaller ones around the main (first) meteor for more effect, adjust the size of each one for more depth.

Step 5

We will now design the impact site – I decided to apply the fire texture to it – go and select a portion of the fire texture:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, place the new layer below the meteor layer and above the last adjustment layer for the planet. Refine the edge as shown below: (Ctrl + Alt + R)

Distort and warp this layer as shown below:

Change this layer blending mode to "Hard Light", 70% opacity:

Duplicate this fire layer a few more times, change the layer blending mode to either "hard light" or "vivid light", adjust the layer opacity accordingly. Try warping the fire texture as well to create a splashing effect:

Step 6

We’re almost done! Finally we can add some particle around the area of impact with the fire texture – this time, we select some small piecesof the texture, as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our document, then we can resize and distort it a bit to fit the angle of the planet, as shown below:

Duplicate this layer a few times, resize and attach them around the impact site:

I also added this selective colour image adjustment setting to fine-tune the colour of the image a bit:

and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

Family portraits capture a moment in time alongside those you care for most. Those photos can be hung in the homes of family members to remind you of those closest to you. As time goes on, the family will welcome new members and see other pass on. These photos will become a treasured reminder and document that can be looked back upon fondly to share memories. So, no pressure, right?

We’re here to help. Here are a few simple tips for capturing family portraits allowing you to get the best results.

1. Location

Getting what can feel like an elusive family group shot is all about taking your chances. Many families are spread over a large geographical area, so when that special occasion gets booked in, you know everyone will be in attendance. Grab your opportunity to set aside 10 minutes to get the shot of everyone together looking their best!

If possible, choose a location that has significance, purely to add to the emotional depth of the shot. For example, use the garden of a family member or a viewpoint that overlooks a city in which some of the family live or used to live.

If that’s not a possibility, a simple open space will be sufficient, although ensure there are no distractions in the background of your shot to detract from the main focus, the family!

Photo by Zepfanman

2. Arranging People

It’s important to arrange your family to ensure your have a visually engaging and balanced shot. Make sure there are a variety of levels within the shot, the children will naturally aid that, but it may be necessary to have the older members of the family seated, so place them at the centre of the image with the family around them. Take your time to set it up correctly, with tall people at the back and making sure you can see everyone’s face clearly.

When arranging your family members, ensure there isn’t too much distance between them. You want to portray a loving family and togetherness, so get them nice and cosy, maybe with partners holding hands or with an arm around each other and it’ll really give the shot that family feel.

Photo by Jeremy Wong

3. Light and smiles

When positioning the shot, it’s essential that you don’t have your family facing the sun, otherwise you’ll have a shot full of squinting faces. Similarly, you don’t want the camera facing the sun as you’ll have a shot full of faces cast with shadow, so aim for a set up within which the family is side on to the natural light.

Having said that, you can almost guarantee that there’ll be someone blinking or wincing in your shots, so keep checking your LCD preview to make sure you’ve got everyone looking your way with their eyes open. Whilst you’ve got everyone there and in position, keep on shooting, it’ll give you the best chance of getting the shot you want.

Photo by NCBrian

4. Settings

As far as settings are concerned, you’ll want a fairly narrow aperture, something from f/8 up to f/11 should ensure that you’ve got everything in focus front to back. You may have to compensate for that with a slightly longer shutter speed than usual.

Remember that you want to freeze the scene as people are always inclined to shuffle and move, so experiment depending on the light available. If you’re having trouble, maybe crank up the ISO a notch or two to ensure you’ve got enough light within the shot without having to extend the shutter speed to much.

Photo by HaWee

5. Group Photographs

It’s essential that as the photographer you are in control of the shoot. There will alway be certain family members that want to dictate what goes on, but as the photographer, it’s up to you manage the situation. Be sure that you’ve got everyone in the frame, facing your way, smiling and generally being attentive, rather than worrying about what your great auntie is telling them to do.

If you are also going to be in the shot, place your camera on a tripod, set it up as you see fit and crucially, make sure there is a spot for you in the shot. Don’t just kneel at the front on the floor or sneak in behind everyone at the back. Make sure you have a spot that suits the dynamic of the shot, then either use the timer or a remote release to take the shots, and as I mentioned before, repeat this a few times to insure you get the shot you want.

Photo by SFlovestory

6. Small Group Portrait Shots

As well as capturing the complete family in one large shot, it can be nice to work with smaller family groups. You’ll find you have more freedom to cater the shots to their needs with more options for locations, angles and the style of shots.

These shot naturally lend themselves to being less formal. Select a slightly wider aperture than before, maybe f/5.6, which will enable you to capture the smiling faces and blur out the background.

Photo by Gary Robson

7. Be inventive!

Be open to experiment with slightly more exciting set ups. Move away from the standard family portrait set up and try something different. You could try putting the family in age order, or even height order to mix it up a bit!

For shots of smaller groups that contain the more agile members of the family, you could get them all to jump up or make a human pyramid. Try asking the family to see whether they have any ideas, especially the kids. Often they’ll be the ones that want to do something exciting and get mum and dad be a little silly, too!

Photo by Brian Tomlinson

8. Personal Moments

As you are working in and around the family, it can be a great opportunity to get some reportage style shots. Working discretely, like you would at a wedding reception, capture those interactions between family members.

These shots can often portray people at their most relaxed, alongside those closest to them, sharing jokes, stories and anecdotes. As long as they don’t realize that they’re being photographed, they’ll continue to look natural and expressive.

Photo by Aaron Gilson

9. Preserving special relationships

At these sorts of events, it’s a great idea to try and highlight certain relationships within the family. Grandparents will always love a shot alongside their grandchildren. A shot of the youngest family member with the oldest family member can create a very heart warming image.

If you’re not a member of the family that you’re photographing, make sure you chat to someone to find out some background to the family members. There may be, for example, brothers who live on opposite sides of the world who rarely see each other, united for a short space of time, so look to capture that type of interaction.

Photo by Greg Dawson

10 . Capturing the Kids!

As any new parent will tell you, it’s difficult to resist taking lots of photos of the children, especially as new borns. But as they grow up, and start spending more time exploring rather than sitting still, it can be harder to get the shots you want.

The best thing to do is to get down to their level and engage them with something they find interesting. Maybe your partner or the child’s parents will be able to attract a child’s attention with a toy, encouraging them to look up in order for you to get the shots you want.

I’ve always found that photographing kids on the move is all about anticipation. Always be ready with your exposure settings as you want them, so as soon as the scene in front of you takes shape, you can snap away.

Photo by Anders Ruff

11. Have a go yourself!

So there we have it, hopefully you have all the guidance you need to get those family shots that you’ve been waiting to get. Remember to utilize the strong relationships that you have with your family. This can work in your favor as they will take direction from you and you’ll be able to work together to get the shots you all want.

We all enjoy having photos of our families up in our homes, and if you are able to capture the shots yourself, as you’d wish them to be taken, it will feel that much better when they’re displayed in the homes of your family members.

Lack of general understanding

One of the biggest issues with these types of clients is that they don’t have any idea about what works well for them or what doesn’t. They know they want a nice logo and obviously don’t know their company as well as they should if they start up a contest where a hundred people enter, but only one gets paid. Understanding “what works” as a company or business, is not something everybody is capable of, and unfortunately in these situations, more often than not, the company chooses a design that “looks good” rather than one that represents their brand. If you do Spec work, all that you do is encourage choosing designs based on what “looks good” instead of what “works well”.

Image by Coastline Windows & Conservatories.

Plus, let’s face it, if you’ve been submitting design concepts for years and never won, at some point in time you will start submitting work that is not original – that is if, for who knows what reason, you will continue doing this. So the client doesn’t benefit at all, as you give him is work that is recycled.

Spec work is something new designers go for very fast, because they hope to “catch a big fish” and get some experience and build a portfolio at the same time. Well, I would not encourage you to do it, not even in the beginning. If you want to do something good, find a volunteer organization, a small business, a charity, something or someone you can do good for. They will appreciate your effort much more – we will talk about this point a bit later on.

Taking the shortcut

What Spec work is can be translated into taking a shortcut instead of going the long, safer road. This is because most of the clients asking for Spec work don’t offer to pay up front, milestone payments, contracts or meetings – they are not the type of client we are used to working with.

As said earlier, they know they need a logo and ask for it. You are the designer so you should know how to make it – but they have no idea that even behind a black & white typeface logo there is much more than the looks. And they also want results really fast and as cheap as possible. They might even choose a cheaper version just because it’s cheaper, not because they like it more.

Image by giveawayboy.

A client who uses this method to get their designs created is clearly not an expert, so he will not notice a difference between an original piece of work and something plagiarized. This is why asking for Spec work is also harmful for them. Spec work is something beginner designers do, or designers from poorer countries. They do not want to invest two weeks into creating a visual identity. They spend two days and move on. The probability of paying for something plagiarized is high – and when the original artist comes and asks for money from you, where will you, the client, find that guy who won your contest?

As mentioned earlier, clients don’t always know why we take so much time for a “simple logo”. It should be much easier in their opinion. And today they found out design is something many people do – and there are some of them who do it fast and cheap. Why not start a contest and see if one of them pops in there? Nobody wants to be “over charged” by someone who actually spends time thinking about potential solutions and concepts, right?

No client relationships

Another thing designers long for is good relationships with the clients we work with. Even months after delivering a complete project to a small business they might come back to us because they want something new. Knowing how to always leave the door open for former clients is something all of us need to be better at. We all know there are some people out there who we just love working with – probably because they appreciate us, they follow our advice and are always kind. You will not find this in the Spec world.

Image by Bes Z.

Even if you are a successful Spec worker, doing this for a long time might get you into an unhealthy working rhythm; submitting one design after another, finding another client and moving on – this is all you do. And there is also the uncertainty of not getting paid. Productivity and confidence might also have to suffer if you meet the wrong client. If you want appreciation for your work, the Spec world is not where you should be.

Always keep the rules in mind

There are some things which you definitely need to take care of when working with a client. Never work without a contract, it is crucially important. If you can’t write one on your own, there are plenty of well written templates on the internet which are free to download, modify and use. That’s where everyone should start.

If you do some work for someone you don’t know, ask for a deposit first. If the client doesn’t want to give you anything, then move on. It is probably a client whom you don’t want to deal with anyway. If he doesn’t pay a small fee at the beginning, how do you expect him to pay the full price at the end, when you already hand in the project?

Oh, about handing in the project… never do it until you get the full payment. There are clients who might not be willing to pay until they have the product. Offer them a preview or show them the finished product on your computer, then after getting the money release the work. It is less risky and it will get rid of headaches for you.

Image by NobMouse.

The copyright for your work is owned by you until there is a clause in the above-mentioned contract specifying otherwise. Make sure clients know that adapting your work in any way can only be done with your approval if you still own the legal rights. However, most of the time designers prefer to offer full legal rights to the client for a small fee on top of the one for the project – make sure to stipulate this in the contract.

Pro bono vs. Spec work

There is a huge difference between Spec work and Pro bono and I promise to come back with another article about it soon enough. People should understand that there is nothing wrong with doing pro bono or volunteer work, but the reasons behind it should be different.

While most communities, charities or small businesses will give you something back for your work (maybe some references or advertising), the ones in the Spec business will most likely not, even when you win a contest and get paid. But I will get back to you with another article about pro bono work some other time.

Bottom line

The only way of solving the Spec work issue is by not taking part in it. There are clearly very few (or no) advantages of doing Spec work for people who won’t acknowledge your efforts. Just think how proud will you be of your design career in ten years if the only thing you do is Spec work. Let’s face it, Spec work is for people who are not acknowledged as professionals worth paying for. You are not one of them. Act professionally and avoid partaking in Spec work.

What do you think about submitting designs for contests on 99designs.com or similar websites? Have you ever done it and if yes, why? What made you stop doing it?

OpenSocial is useful for websites to start hosting social applications. Apache Shindig is an OpenSocial container and helps you to start hosting these apps on your website.

OpenSocial is not just about gadgets and widgets for your Website. With it, your website can be a container or can store persistent data and publish notices/alerts called activities.

OpenSocial has vast verity of uses including social mashups, social websites and applications, gadgets/application creation, CMS and social network integration and any PHP website integration with social network/ features.

In this tutorial we will explore more about PHP Website integration with social features of OpenSocial platform. To understand a basic communication structure between OpenSocial and existing website, please refer the figure below:

As shown in the figure above, you can integrate your website server and shindig server with a common database. For example: Application like giving virtual gift to your friends requires accessing your friends list from the database (the same database interacts with your website’s database components and PHP API component in shindig). Functionality of virtual gifts from shindig server, and application will be shown on yourwebsite’s application page under presentation layer.

I assume that you already have a social network, that’s to say, a site with registered users and a notion of "friends". Your site also has a notion of an "activity stream" that lists actions that the friends of a given user have taken recently. If you don’t have the above things, you can still use OpenSocial but the use will be limited to gadgets that use less user data for Ex: you can still use Horoscope like gadgets in your website, you will only need date of birth of the signed user. To make integration of social features with any application, follow below steps;

Download PHP Apache Shindig and install

You need to implement some basic classes: PersonService, AppDataService, ActivityService etc.

An HTML and PHP file to connect with container and render the gadget

Function to request social data

OpenSocial Gadget

Download and Install

Apache Shindig is a container for hosting social application consisting of four parts:

Gadget Container JavaScript: core JavaScript foundation for general gadget functionality (read more about gadget functionality). This JavaScript manages security, communication, UI layout, and feature extensions, such as the OpenSocial API.

Gadget Rendering Server: used to render the gadget XML into JavaScript and HTML for the container to expose via the container JavaScript.

OpenSocial Container JavaScript: JavaScript environment that sits on top of the Gadget Container JavaScript and provides OpenSocial specific functionality (profiles, friends, activities, datastore).

OpenSocial Data Server: an implementation of the server interface to container-specific information, including the OpenSocial REST APIs, with clear extension points so others can connect it to their own backends.

The link to download Shindig is http://shindig.apache.org/download/index.html.

Building and running instructions can be found at http://shindig.apache.org/developers/php/build.html.

Implement Classes

In PHP, theses class files are located in the src/social/spi directory. You need to implement the following Shindig class services to connect your own database.

PersonService

ActivityService

AppDataService

For example: if we implement ActivityService class in src/social/spi/ActivityService.php, then a sample code for implementing the function createActivity could be:

public function createActivity($userId, $groupId, $appId, $fields, $activity, SecurityToken $token){ $person_id = $userId->getUserId($token); $title=$activity['title']; if($body==NULL){ $body=$activity['body']; } $activity['body']=$body; $query="insert into activity_streams (activity_streams_id,user_id,title) values (”, $person_id,’$title’)"; mysql_query($query); $query="select activity_streams_id from activity_streams where user_id=$person_id"; $stream1=array(); $stream_id=mysql_query($query); while (@$row=mysql_fetch_array($stream_id) ){ $stream1[]=$row[0]; } $stream=mysql_query("SELECT distinct(stream_id) FROM activities where stream_id not in( ‘select activity_streams_id from activity_streams where user_id=$person_id’)"); $stream2=array(); while (@$row1=mysql_fetch_array($stream) ){ $stream2[]=$row1[0]; } $stream3=array(); $stream3=array_diff($stream1,$stream2); foreach($stream3 as $key =>$value){ $time=strtotime("now"); $posted_time=gmdate("Y-m-d H:i:s",time()); mysql_query("insert into activities (activities_id,title,body,stream_id,posted_time) values (”,’$title’, ‘$body’,$value,’$posted_time’)"); } return new ResponseItem(null, null, array()); }

The above code is just a sample and you can create your own activities function, the activities are like updates of your friends etc.

HTML Page

The HTML page will be Apache Shindig sample container. OpenSocial apps can define multiple views to generate UI appropriate for the context in which the app is being shown. For example, you can define a profile view to be shown when the app is rendered on a user’s profile. The other common view on a typical social network is the canvas view, which is used to render a full page view of the app.

Note: For the simplicity, I am including the database connection and other functions in the same file but with your existing website you might have database connection and functions layer separate so please keep your OOPs model the same.

The HTML and PHP file sample is:

<?php include("{your database connection file"); include("your database functions file"); //this can add or remove the gadgets links in to the database require_once("configuration file in which you make connection with Shindig"); //Please find code below for this file {Identify Viewer and Owner id} //It depends on the gadget functionality if you need it or not?><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /><title>Google</title><link href="style/GoogleClasses.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /><?php{include js files for the shindig}{Include functions to request social data, which is explained in next heading}</head><body class="ContentCanvas">//The below form is to choose one gadget out of various gadget options and render them in profile mode<form name="profileViewGadgetForm" onsubmit="return false;"> <select id="selectGadget" onChange="handleGadgetInMode(‘profile’);"> <option value="">——-select——</option> <?php //Fetch various gadget list from database to show options in drop-down box $result = gadgetList(); while($row2=mysql_fetch_array($result)){ //$value = explode("/",$row['name']); //$size = count($value); $gadName=$row2[1]; $gadUrl=$row2[2]; echo ‘<option value="’.$gadUrl.’">’.$gadName.’</option>’; } } ?> </select></form>//the gadget will render in below mentions Div<div class="profileView"> <div id="gadget-profile-chrome" class="gadgets-gadget-chrome"></div></div></body></html>

Function to call social data

Now we will include the main JavaScript files which are essential for the Shindig code rendering into the browser. Please check the functions in below file. If you want to change the way the gadget looks in your browser then it’s the file to work on. Again it depends on what you wantto include or how creative you can be in terms of look and feel.

<script type="text/javascript">var gServerBaseURL = ”;var gProfileGadget = null;var gCanvasGadget = null;var gChromeIds = [ "gadget-profile-chrome", "gadget-canvas-chrome" ];var gOwnerId = <?php echo $ownerid; ?>;var gViewerId = <?php echo $viewerid; ?>; getUpdate(‘@friends’);function generateSecureToken( gadget, mode ) { // TODO: Use a less silly mechanism of mapping a gadget URL to an appid var appId = 0; var appIdGeneratorUrl = gadget.specUrl + "?mode=" + mode; for (var i = 0; i < appIdGeneratorUrl.length; i++) { appId += appIdGeneratorUrl.charCodeAt(i); } var fields = [gOwnerId, gViewerId, appId, "shindig", gadget.specUrl, "0"]; for (var i = 0; i < fields.length; i++) { // escape each field individually, for metachars in URL fields[i] = escape(fields[i]); } return fields.join(":");}</script><script type="text/javascript">function handleNewProfileGadget( gadgetUrl ) { gProfileGadget = gadgets.container.createGadget( {‘specUrl’: gadgetUrl} ); gProfileGadget.setServerBase(‘<?php echo $gadgetServer; ?>’); gProfileGadget.width=170; gadgets.container.addGadget( gProfileGadget ); gadgets.container.layoutManager.setGadgetChromeIds( gChromeIds );}function handleNewCanvasGadget( gadgetUrl ) { gCanvasGadget = gadgets.container.createGadget( {‘specUrl’: gadgetUrl} ); gCanvasGadget.setServerBase(‘<?php echo $gadgetServer; ?>’); gCanvasGadget.width=430; gCanvasGadget.height=400; gadgets.container.addGadget( gCanvasGadget ); gadgets.container.layoutManager.setGadgetChromeIds( gChromeIds );}function View(){handleGadgetInMode(‘canvas’);}function confirmDelete(){ return confirm("Are you sure you wish to delete this gadget?");}function handleGadgetInMode( mode ) { var currGadget = null; if (document.forms[ "profileViewGadgetForm" ].elements[ "selectGadget" ].selectedIndex == -1) { //nothing has been selected yet! return ; } var gadgetUrl = gServerBaseURL + document.forms[ "profileViewGadgetForm" ].elements[ "selectGadget" ].value; gadgets.DemoAppGadget.prototype.gadget_url = gadgetUrl; //document.forms[ "profileViewGadgetForm" ].elements[ "selectGadget" ].value; gadgets.DemoAppGadget.prototype.user="<?php if($ownerid==$viewerid) echo "viewer"; ?>"; if( mode == "profile" ) { gadgets.DemoAppGadget.prototype.viewMode = 1; if( gProfileGadget === null ) handleNewProfileGadget( gadgetUrl ); currGadget = gProfileGadget; } else if( mode == "canvas" ) { gadgets.DemoAppGadget.prototype.viewMode = 0; if( gCanvasGadget === null ) handleNewCanvasGadget( gadgetUrl ); currGadget = gCanvasGadget; var profileDetailsDiv=document.getElementById("profileDetails"); profileDetailsDiv.style.display = "none"; } currGadget.specUrl = gadgetUrl; currGadget.secureToken = escape(generateSecureToken( currGadget, mode )); gadgets.container.setView( mode ); gadgets.container.renderGadget( currGadget ); }function initProfileGadget( ) { handleGadgetInMode("profile");}gadgets.util.registerOnLoadHandler(initProfileGadget);</script>

We will explore more about the gadgets in an upcoming tutorial so be on the lookout.

Before to start, see below the final result:

Of course, the PSD file regarding this tutorial can be downloaded from this page. It will help you to spare time or to take you time to study the technical methods used during this tutorial.

STEP 1 Create a new file

Open your Photoshop software, then go to menu File>New and type its name, its width and height.

You new document appears automatically.

Use now the Paint Bucket Tool (G) to fill your picture with the colour: #545b5c. Then, display the rules Ctrl + R and put 4 guides (two vertical located to 40px from the border and two horizontal to 40 pixels and 45 pixels from the border).

STEP 2 Creation of the menu

The creation of the menu is more than easy because I decided to use an off the shelf menu available from the FT Blue & Black kit on Grafpedia. Find here the link to download it: Black & Blue FT UI KIT. Open the PSD file, then drop and paste the document including the menu. If you need, you can resize the menu regarding the size of its new position and place.

Move the links to the middle of the menu to get a free area on the left for the logo. Use now the Text Tool (T) to enter the name of your website (one part white and one other part blue #1c8ab6).

Add three different layer styles to your title: a drop shadow, an inner shadow and a gradient overlay.Remind you the method to add a layer style: go to menu Layer>Layer style>Drop Shadow.
See the captures below and notice the setting to apply to your layer styles

To finish the logo, add a small bullet on the left side of the title. To do it, follow the steps below.

1 Use the Ellipse Tool (U) to create a round.

2 Add three layer styles to your round : Outer Glow, Gradient Overlay and Stroke.

3 Create a new layer and use the Brush Tool (B) to create a Glow in the middle of your round. Then set the Blending mode of this layer to overlay, then reduce the opacity to 50%.

4 To create the first gleam on the bottom, retrieve the selection of the round (Ctrl + Click on the layers thumbnail). Then reduce the selection edges of 2 pixels. Use again the Paint Bucket Tool (B) with the white colour to create the Glow.

5 Duplicate now the round and delete the layer styles. Change the Fill colour by the white. Use the free transformation to update the width and height of the round. To finish, go to menu Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal all. Use the Gradient Tool (G) to hide the basement of the gleam.

6 To finish, create a new layer, retrieve the selection of the gleam (created by the previous step) and fill it with white. Move the selection to 2 pixels to the bottom and press the Del key. Use again a layer mask to hide the bottom of this white stroke.

See now the result.

See now, an overview on the whole menu.

STEP 3 Create the carousel

Group in a document named menu, all layers previously created. Then, create a new group you name carousel. Put two new guides to 10 pixels from the menu and to 350 pixels. Use now the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) with a radius of 3 pixels to create a rectangle with a size of 920×350 pixels.

Import a preview of your picture over your rectangle. To rounded the corners of your rectangle, retrieve the rounded rectangle selection and select the layer of your picture. Go to menu Selection>Inverse and press on the Del key. (you can now hidden the rounded rectangle layer pressing on the eye icon in the layer window). To finish, copy/paste the layer styles of the buttons (see in kit) then deactivate the gradient overlay.

Regarding the page numbering, create a rounded rectangle (size of 920×40 pixels) on the bottom of the carousel and paste again the layer styles of the button. Create a new layer and put it under the rounded rectangle layer. Select the rectangle and press the Ctrl + E keys. With method is used to remove le layer styles. Add a layer mask on this new layer. Use the the foreground gradient (black) ->Transparent and use it on both sides, left and right.

Put this layer into a new group you name page numbering. Use now the Ellipse Tool (U) to create 7 small rounds (20×20 pixels) and place them in the middle of the carousel.

Go back to the kit and copy the layer styles added on the inputs (on the right) then, paste them on each round. Regarding the round in the middle (the active page numbering) add a blue outer glow.

To create the active round, duplicate first the black round. Press on the Ctrl + T keys to activate the free transformation. In the options bar, set the width and height to 80%. At least, remove the layer styles and replace them by these following styles.
Create a new layer and a white glow over the blue round. To do it, easy use the Brush Tool (B) with the white colour as well as a Soft round pressure size.

See below the final result of the whole menu with the carousel.

STEP 4 Create the contents

Regarding the contents, place a new horizontal guide under the carousel and after a second one to 170 pixels. Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool to create a rectangle with a size of 920×170 pixels with the fill colour #0a0c0d.

Use the Texte tool (T) to create a title.

Add now two layer style on the text: a drop shadow and a gradient overlay.

Use one more time the Text Tool (T) to create the chapter under the title.

Regarding the icon, I use my favorite website to select one of them: iconfinder.com and after, I import my selected icon into my document under Photoshop.

Do same thing to create a second block. Take now time to group all the layers previously created and name this group ” content “.

STEP 5 Create the Twitter’s block

Create a new block and name it the box3. Retrieve the rounded rectangle selection and create after a new layer. Fill the right side of the selection with this grey colour: #414747.

Downlaod this icon and import it into your document. Fill this icon with this grey #0a0c0d.

Use the Text Tool (P) to simulate the last published message on your Twitter account. Regarding the button, simply use the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U).

See below the result with the menu, the carousel and the contents.

STEP 6 The bottom page

Create a new group you can name -the footer-. Use the Rectangle Marquee Tool (M) to create a new active selection on the bottom part of the template. Create a new layer et fill it with the colour #414747.

Use the Text Tool (T) to simulate the news. To create the links, only update the text colour and add a small arrow. Go to this website http://www.websitebullets.com/ and you will find an incredible number of arrows.

Use same tool to simulate a list of partnerships.

Use again this tool to create a newsletter block.

Go back to the .psd file from the kit and import the inputs (two times).

Import the button, the one inactive.

STEP 7 The Copyright

To create the Copyright, create a new layer and after use the Rectangle Marquee tool (M) to create an active selection (1000×40 pixels).Fill the selection with this colour #1c2324. Add now an inner shadow (menu layer> Layer style> Inner shadow).

Return to the .psd file of the kit and import the social icons.

Use now for the last time, the Text Tool (T) to create the Copyright of the Template.

See now below the final result.

And without any guides.

Thanks a lot for reading this new Photoshop tutorial on Grafpedia. If you want to download the .psd file regarding this tutorial, then click on the blue button below.

STEP 1 – Creation of the document

In this photoshop website user interface tutorial we will start with the creation of a new document.You can name it what ever you like. I named my Simple button. Set width 400 px and height 140 px. You may think that the size is to big and you are right,but i have a habit of creating the file bigger and then i scale it to a size i like.

STEP 2 – Mark the width a height for the button photoshop tutorial

Like any other photoshop button tutorial we have to create a clear ground in order to create it the right size.Press CTR + R to activate your Rulers.Now set up your guides 10 px from the top and from the bottom, and 20 px from the left and 20 px from the right.This will set the region where the actual button will be created.

STEP 3 – Setting the shape and radius for the button

First set a light blue color ( color value is R: 106, G: 196 , B: 234).Now from the Tools panel select the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Then set the radius of the rounding 60 px.The button should be 360 px in lenght and 120 px in height.

The result should be something like this.After that you can turn off Guides so you can have a better visibility.In the image below you can see how the shape should look like. This is the base for this tutorial.

STEP 4 – Setting the gradient for the button

Now go to the rectangle layer. Rename the layer to Button and then do a right click -> rasterize layer. Then click on the add layers style -> gradient overlay. Set Blending Mode -> Multyply and the Opacity -> 40 % and click OK.With this set you have a nice gradient that starts giving this photoshop tutorial a better look.

STEP 5 – Setting outline for the button

Create a new layer and name it white.Set foreground color to white. Ctr + click on the button layer to make a selection. Now make sure that the layer white is selected and press Alt + Delete. This will fill the selection on the layer White with white color.The last thing you have to do is to check out the visibility of the background layer so it will become transparent and you can see the new filled shape better.

STEP 6 – Completing the outside line for the button tutorial

Now Ctrl + click on the white layer to make an active selection. Go to Select -> Modify -> Contract. Set Contract By: 3 px and click OK. With the layer White selected press Delete and delete the selection. Press Ctrl + D to deselect the selection.

STEP 7 – Making the bottom highlight on the button photoshop tutorial

Create a new layer and name it Bottom Light.With the pen tool create a shape similar of this one and fill it with white. Go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur. Set Radius : 6 px and click OK.

STEP 8 -Making the Upper Highlight on the Button Photoshop Tutorial

Create a new layer an name it Upper light. Create a shape similar to this one shown in the picture below.Again go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur and this time set radius to 4 px and click OK.

STEP 9 – Adding Shadow to the Button

Next what you have to do is to create a shadow to the button. Click on the add layer style and check Drop Shadow. Set Blend Mode -> Multiply, the distance to 3 px and size to 5 px. Then click OK.

FINAL CONCLUSION

The first button is something that you get as a final result.With the second button i have played a little bit more with the transparency of the button.I also added a little bit of noise and more glow to the top.I encourage you to play a little bit more so you can have better results.Any way what you have learned here you can implement in your projects like typography, design, posters and other photoshop project. I hope you enjoyed it.

Here is a small round-up of some exceptionally designed, and creative, headers for your inspiration. See for yourself how far header designs can go as far as the creativity is concerned. Do let us know your opinion about this compilation. Your comments are always more than welcome!

1. The Pixel

Beautifully designed header that not only fulfills the function of a header in a web design, but also improves the overall look of the website.

2. Pralinenschachtel

Simple and uncluttered design focusing on simplicity, yet keeping it very creative and visually engaging.

3. ICFF

Loads of colorful elements and illustrations make this header design a visual treat for the website visitors. The color theme is simply ravishing.

4. Juan Diego Velasco

Wow! Such an appealing and charming header I have ever seen. The credit goes to the designer who successfully delivered his creativity and imagination into a beautiful design.

5. Art 4 Web

Artistic is the word that describes this header design. With loads of vibrant colors, this header truly is the highlight of the website design.

6. Bern

Although quite simple yet extremely effective design that uses beautiful color combination and appealing effects to grab the visitors’ attention.

7. The Alamo Basement

Here the main header area is covered with an appealing illustration that captivates the onlookers right at first glance. Below that, you will find the navigation menu.

8. Sob Controllers

This brilliant header design has been created by keeping a close and detailed look at the visitors’ perspectives and this is the reason they have come up with such a stunning header design.

9. Cult Foo

Creativity and innovation have been taken to the next level in this header design. You will simply be mesmerized with the beauty and attractiveness of its design. Quite a unique approach.

10. Ready Photo Site

In this header design, you can see the use of quite bold and bright tone colors that effectively turn out well with their layout. The use of visual element is simply the highlight of this design.

11. Bei Blog

This header makes you feel that you have entered the galaxy. The color theme is excellent and all the design elements complement each other.

12. UGS Mag

Although unique and creative in its own way but quite clumsy and cluttered. May be the background image could have been little bit better.

13. Source Bits

The website loads a bit slow however the design of its header is simply outstanding. The header is different from the standard website headers.

14. Mark Forrester

With such a soft color tone and nice graphics, this header design sets itself apart from the other headers in this collection. The creative approach of the designer must be praised.

15. Marchand de Trucs

This uniquely designed header is different from the ordinary website headers. The navigation is placed at the side while the header area features only the most important links.

16. Barcamp Bordeaux

With bold typography and large images, this visually alluring header design attracts loads of visitors’ attention while providing an effective navigation plan.

17. Cup Cup

The header of this website goes well with the name of the website. Furthermore, the color selection is amazing.

18. Broke Design

A simply innovative approach for a website header. You will see an extraordinary use of creativity in this header design.

19. The Farmer and the Chef

This is another brilliantly designed header that speaks volumes. You can notice excellent creativity and originality of the theme being incorporated well in the design.

20. Barleys Green ville

This header design is a rather atypical design for a website header, however, this unusual design truly stands out mainly because of its subtle look and appeal.

21. The happy time cafe

The appealing illustration and classy color palette are the key points in this header design that not only grab the attention but also make this header design a creative one.

22. Feed Stich

Another beautiful example of a subtle header design. The color selection is truly soothing and pleases human eyes.

23. Bupla

This header design presents beautiful images to grab the attention of the onlookers as well as provide necessary information in its navigation plan to assist their visitors.

24. Pixel Resort

A colorful, lively and energetic header design is this. The use of color is excellent and will definitely bring a positive change in your mood.

25. Bad Health

The header features loads of faces demonstrating different people with bad health. This is such a nice approach to portray the main idea of the website.

26. Mike Dascola

Mike Dascola’s header is the perfect combination of creativity and functionality. This headers features an unusual color combination that makes this header design memorable.

27. Inspiredology

This is another competently designed header highlighting the importance of creativity and ingenuity.

28. Boompa

Simple and uncluttered design that focuses on the simplicity and minimalism. The color theme is also very refreshing.

29. Living Design

In this header design, you will notice the creative use of images along with right kind of typography that can simply make a design outstanding.

30. Toasted Digital

Here is another excellent example of a unique header design. Although this header design is somewhat similar to the standard headers but still it has some appeal.

31. Field Runners

Bold and beautiful illustration along with sufficient information in the navigation menu makes this header design a memorable one.

32. Erics Empire

In this header design, the designer has made use of some dark colors that successfully turns out well with the overall design.

33. Just dot

Just Dot makes use of a creative approach when designing their header as you can see the visually appealing mouse over effect and excellent typography have been incorporated well in the design.

34. Cochemer Stadtsoldaten

This header design is somewhat similar with loads of other header designs that you see on the net however the use of images and font selection are something that must be praised.

35. Florida Flourish

Florida Flourish’s header design can be described as being sophisticated and stylish while presenting all the basic functionality.

36. Giselejaquenod

This is not an ordinary header, and this is the reason why it has been listed in the showcase of creative header design.

37. Kulturbanause

Nature is the best source of inspiration and this is apparent from this header design. See how inspiring the nature is.

38. Digimurai

Simple but attractive header design that does not perplex its visitors with plenty of graphics and ambiguous navigation.

39. Jasonreed Webdesign

This visually alluring header design has been created by keeping the visitors’ perspectives in mind; therefore, the website users can relate themselves with the company.

40. Nomilk Today

In this header design, you can notice the use of big typography along with subtle use of color that blends well with the other design elements.

41. Web Burza

The color palette and high quality graphics are the highlights of this header design that are making it exceptionally alluring and fascinating.

42. Alexandregomes

With soothing colors and well placed design elements, this design makes its place in our showcase of creative headers.

43. Racket

Last but not the least, the creativity being presented in this header design is also above the par; and this is the reason why this design appeal loads of visitors.

(The usual) NOTE - This discussion will not teach you how to create a riveting iPad app. And, trust me when I say that “I am NOT covering the usual tips that have been covered a zillion times already on other blogs!”

How Many Instructions are too Many?

Personally, I hate apps that have a lot of instructions. What is the use of designing an app when you cannot keep it simple? If your app requires the end-user to read the thick user manual over and over to easily use the app then, my friends, you have just designed a flop app. Remember that you give out instructions for your app users so that they get the feel and move on to the real app. Your list of instructions should never be a turn-off for the app users.

So, avoid the usage of a “question mark” icon on every possible screen of your iPad app. Let the app be the instruction booklet in itself. Seriously, I hate apps with too many instructions!

Now, Don’t Confuse “Hints” with “Instructions”

You know what? Sometimes I feel bad when I get the feeling that my reader may have misunderstood me. Above, I asked you to avoid using too many instructions for people to be able to use your app. “Hints” are a different ball game altogether. Hints are a form of “positive poking” that helps the users move on when they are struggling. So, its good to give away hints to keep the app users interested.

WARNING - Never overdo your take-my-hint-and-move-on style in your app. The end-user might just lose the much wanted interest.

Layout Must Change Comfortably With Orientation

The image above says it all. In the case of orientation sensitive devices like iPad the layout of an app must not be broken with the change of orientation of the device. Though the broken layout might not hamper the productivity of the app, it is surely a turn-off for the end-user. Who would want to use an app that does not understand the orientation of iPad? It is like using an app which was never designed for iPad (or any other orientation sensitive gadget for that matter) in the first place. Consider checking out the Holy Grail of Mobile Layout?

Always Display the Username On Screen

This might sound weird, but with devices like iPad this is a must. iPad is the sort of gadget which will be used by multiple members of a family. I am not saying that iPad is a family gadget, but in many cases it might just be. One family member uses the iPad and then another picks it up. Who would want to use an app or an interface while someone else is logged into it? Worst case would be that you would never know if someone else is logged in until you figure out the data is not yours. Like the eBay app for iPad which won’t display the logged in user’s ID:

So, it is suggested that you clearly show the logged in user’s ID on every page of your app. It will help clear any sort of confusion and unwanted situations.

Never Overdo the Gestures

Users of iPad know that the device understands tapping and sliding. You don’t have to write it in bold and make it overly obvious. A slight mention of “Tap me for more” is all that is needed to keep the users looking for more. You don’t have to explain to the end user what tapping means, how it can be done and what are its advantages. Don’t make it look silly.

The White Space..Pleeeease!

Don’t tell me that this is one of the obvious tips that has been discussed already. I have to discuss this over and over til you guys understand the importance of it especially in the context of iPad like devices. See, devices like iPad can stretch your design or make it look cluttered. If you are creating an app especially for iPad then you can minimize the clutter, but what about the times when the app has to be updated every now and then?

Dynamically updated apps can sometimes break because of the different sizes of images that are pushed on daily basis. So, design your app in a fashion that there is lot of free space available. It helps the user’s mind to relax. Also, it automatically de-clutters the result.

iPad Hails Minimalism. So Should Your App!

Steve Job’s speech below has nothing much to do with the minimalist looks of iPad (and all other Apple devices) but somewhere or other they all connect. I’ll be shocked if you tell me that you haven’t seen this video before. Which bunker do you live in?

One quick glance to your iPad and you will know how simple it is. The device is packed with extremely amazing technology but it doesn’t show off. Now, will you consider designing an iPad app that pops out of your gadget especially when the gadget itself is placed comfortablly in your hands? Follow minimalism and see how your app merges itself with the amazing iPad interface.

Touch is Good but Don’t Over-Use it

Quickly, check the image below before I start explaining what I want:

The CNN app for iPad features a sleek-looking navigation bar at the very bottom. This bar makes it easy for readers to quickly go through various stories and read whichever stories interest them. See how CNN minimized the usage of browser buttons by pushing the important content on one screen itself. It is good that iPad features feather touch experience but sometimes too much slide and touch kills the experience too.

Make it comfortable for the end-user and see how they fall in love with your app.

Conclusion

Tips to design iPad apps are available everywhere. I’m not saying they’re not valuable or useful. but sometimes you have to think about the small things that can be the reason why people ditched your app. Design but don’t overdo it. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

First of all, let’s make sure that you know what the term “noise” refers to in the photography world. Noise rears its head as a “graininess” in the image, with tiny dots characterizing “noisy” areas. Solid colored areas can look speckled or muddy.

The image you see here is a great example of noise in a photo. Exposed at night with a high ISO setting, noise is apparent in a 100% crop of the sky.

Noise can be caused (and reduced) by a number of different factors. The setting most shooters consider when thinking of noise is ISO, or a camera’s sensitivity to light. Indeed, there is a definite relationship between noise and ISO – as ISO is increased (providing higher sensitivity to light) so too does the amount of noise present in a photo. With modern cameras, high ISO’s are more usable than ever, but increasing ISO still has the potential to increase noise.

Noise can be decreased with software such as Lightroom or Photoshop, or decreased by using the lower ISO setting as discussed above. Still, many photographers miss the most effective way to avoid noise to begin with. I discovered this issue while doing some editing for a friend of mine. He had shot his images at a low ISO, purposefully underexposing the photo with the intentions of bringing it back into proper exposure in Adobe Lightroom.

In reality, his technique was flawed; the most important part of avoiding noise is to properly expose within camera. I know, it seems like a basic piece of advice, but take a look at these images samples to illustrate the difference between getting an exposure right in the camera, and artificially increasing it in post production. The net effect of doing so increases the noise in the final image.

I shot this image test to illustrate the importance of getting your settings right in camera. On my Canon 5D Mark II, I shot two images: one photo at ISO 6400, and another at ISO 1600. The ISO 1600 was two stops underexposed, and I “added back” these two stops in Lightroom. As you can see, in the photo at right (the “fake 6400″ shot), the noise levels are much higher than they would’ve been if it had been properly exposed at the higher ISO.

As you can see, having a low ISO setting means almost nothing if we end up adjusting the exposure heavily. If a photo is made at ISO 100 and requires two stops of exposure adjustment in post, we will have introduced a lot more noise than if we had exposed the initial image at ISO 400 (a two stop sensitivity increase).

Unfortunately, I’m afraid that there are photographers out there who aren’t aware of this idea. If you’re ever in a shooting situation where you’re afraid to bump the ISO, don’t hesitate and leave a photo underexposed. The net effect will be a greater amount of image noise.

From the above image tests, it’s not hard to see that one of the biggest techniques in reducing noise is to properly expose the image. Unfortunately, this simple piece of advice is too frequently forgotten and overlooked in the “noise wars”. If too much exposure adjustment is required in the editing phase, noise is going to become apparent regardless of the ISO setting chosen within the camera.

How Engag.io can make you more productive

The most basic reason you will be more productive using Engag.io is, you won’t need to hop all over the web from sites to site answering a tweet here or reply to a comment on a blog thread there. Everything is done from a single inbox.

Being that you aren’t going off to the site to reply to messages, you are less likely to get distracted by what other people are doing. Think of it like looking at your email while offline. You can see what you need to attend to, but you can’t get any new messages to distract your flow.

Setting up Engag.io

You will need to make an account. The process is pretty easy, you need to pick a username, enter in an email address and a password. Once you are in, you need to grant access to all of the sites you have accounts for.

The most popular sites are available.

Using Engag.io to manage your messages and replies

Like I mentioned earlier, Engag.io is kind of like an email program. Most likely, you will spend a good chunk of your time in the Inbox. The Engag.io Inbox is really no different than your Gmail inbox. You can see all of your recent messages and can reply to the messages. See how this is less distracting already?

When you open your your inbox you will see unread messages just like your email inbox. If you grow tired of a thread, you can mute the particular thread or even the site. When you mute something, the data is still collected but does’t show up unless  you unmute the site or comment thread.

Other parts if Engag.io

There are other parts of this web-app you may spend some time looking through. First off is your Contacts list. This contact list is a little different than what you may be used to. It isn’t a list you just add in everyone you want to talk to. This contacts list is only people you engage with.

This may seem a bit strange to some. But really, do you honestly need to import all of your Facebook friends, Twitter followers and everyone in all of the Linkedin Groups you belong to? Nope, you just need to manage the conversations you are currently involved in. That’s why you have limited contacts. If you want to add more people to your contacts list, you need to talk to more people.

If you are on Twitter.com, how can you tell quickly who you are talking to the most? You really can’t accurately tell can you? The Engag.io Dashboard will be able to see that. The dashboard is kind of an analytics for your engagement. When you are looking around here you will see how many times you talked to your contacts and the top sites you comment on.

One of the coolest features of the Dashboard is how you can see where your contacts are commenting and their comments. You will also see a list of their top sites. If you find that someone who is an acquaintance who you want to know better is commenting frequently on a site, you can also comment there more. Being in the same places more often will liken the chance they will open an email you send them.

Pros and Cons of Using Engag.io

Pros

• The most popular social networks are included.
• Everything you need to manage existing conversations is all in one place.
• Comments are searchable and can be shared.
• It’s easy to see who you communicate with the most and where else they are commenting.

Cons

• You are limited to a single account per social network.
• There is no option to start a new conversation with an existing contact.

Final thoughts

When you are using an application to manage your social networking messages versus managing your profiles there are differences that may seem like you aren’t doing much. Let me ask you this question. If you shut off the television and read a book, do you feel like you should be doing something else too? Just because there isn’t the constant bombardment of information doesn’t mean you aren’t spending your time well.

How do you manage all of the conversations on your social networking sites?