Thursday, June 30, 2011

Photoshop Tutorial : 5 Best Hidden Secrets

Whether you're just starting out with Photoshop or you're a seasoned pro, it's likely you've experienced instances where you wished a certain action was easier to do. This article will provide you with a few tips to consider as you explore Photoshop.

Keep an Eye Out for Tutorials : Is there a specific technique or command that's giving you a lot of trouble? In cases like this, sometimes it's simply not enough to consult the help file or ask questions online. Fortunately, you can find literally thousands of video tutorials that provide everything from shortcuts to the latest techniques on how to shade and texture.

Make Money On Line (Top Must Have Features)

Making money on line unfortunately is not for everyone. It is realistically upsetting that the make money on line experts will not admit. Experienced marketers know it is challenging to make money on line. Don't fall for the questionable misleading claims out there. Earning on line can be very rewarding. If you are looking to strike it rich overnight on the Internet, you might as well stop reading and leave right now.


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

How To Create A Grungy iPhone Application Advertisement in Photoshop

In this tutorial I will explain how to create a grungy iPhone Application advertisement using Photoshop CS5. The tutorial will be explained step by step, and will include all of the details and tips you will have to know in order to finish it correctly.

Step 1: Setting up the Document

Open Photoshop and create a new document with the below settings - Width: 1200px, Height: 760px. Click OK to get started.


Now we will create guides in our document. Make sure the rulers are on, View > Rulers (Cmd/Ctrl + R), and set the measurement units to Pixels by right clicking on them. Create a new guide, by clicking on the ruler and dragging the mouse. Drag the new guide to 40px. Do the same thing on each of the four borders.


Step 2: Creating the Background

Download the Vintage paper TEXTURE PACK and open Texture C. Place Texture C in your document. Stretch the texture to the borders of the document until it fits perfectly. Change its Blending Mode to Multiply. Open Texture A and do the same thing. Change Texture A's Blending Mode to Darken and set its Opacity to 60%.


Now we will create a Stripes Pattern. Create a new document (4px on 4px). Use the Pencil Tool (P) to create the following image:

step-002-2

After you've created the pattern press Edit > Define Pattern. Name your pattern however you like (I named mine "Stripes"). Now go back to the original document. Create a new layer above Texture A and name it Stripes. Choose Edit > Fill to fill the layer. Hitting Cmd/Ctrl + Delete (Backspace) also enables you to do this. By clicking the Cmd/Ctrl button you fill your layer with the Background Color. But, if you click the Opt/Alt key instead, you can fill your layer with the Foreground Color.

Back to creating the background. Double click Stripes (Or click Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options) and set its Fill Opacity to 0%. Then, go to Pattern Overlay and scroll to the bottom of your pattern list. Choose the stripes pattern. After you picked the stripes pattern change the pattern's Blending Mode to Multiply and set its Opacity to 10%.

step-002-3

The background is done! Just group the background's layers in order to make your layer section more organized. Name the background group "Textures".
Step 3: Creating the Background of the Application's Icon

Create a new layer above the group Textures. Group the new layer and name the group "App". Use the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and create a rounded rectangle with the following settings:

step-003

After creating the rounded rectangle click Layer > Layer Style > Gradient Overlay. Change the gradient's colors to #277282a and #5092a5. Now duplicate the rounded rectangle and decrease its width and height by 2px (90px on 90px). Double click on the decreased rectangle. Go to the Gradient Overlay section again and change the colors of it to #8dc2c4 and #c8f5ff. Now, After you have a pair of rounded rectangles, duplicate again the top one, or the brighter one, and decrease its width and height by 2px (88px on 88px). After you have decreased the rounded rectangle, change its Gradient Overlay colors to #49849d and #91ced9. Duplicate the top rounded rectangle and double click it. set its Fill Opacity to 0% and apply a Pattern Overlay with the stripes pattern from before. Now, select all of the rounded rectangles and align them horizontally and vertically.

If you have followed the steps correctly you are supposed to get this result:

step-003-2
Step 4: Creating the Person on the Application's Icon

Open your profile photo and select the area in which the head and shoulders appear. Apply a layer mask on the layer to hide everything except yourself. Notice! The selection you select does not have to be very accurate. Later on we will decrease the size of your image to a small size (about 90px on 90px), and we will apply a Color Overlay on it, so you won't be able to see the small details.

step-004

Drag your edited profile photo to the original document. Decrease the photo's size to about the size I did (See Below).

step-004-2

Then load the Stripes layer's selection, and apply a layer mask on you photo's layer. Then, double click the Profile Photo's layer and apply the following styles:

step-004-3

We're almost done with the icon! The only thing left is to create a highlight layer. Create a new layer above the Profile Photo and name it Highlight. Select the Ellipse Tool (U) and create a white ellipse above the rectangles and the photo. It should look like this:

step-004-4

After creating the ellipse apply the following Layer Styles on it:

step-004-5

If you finished applying the Layer Styles on the Highlight layer you're almost done! The only thing you have left to do is to apply a Layer Mask on the layer and to apply a Drop Shadow effect on the bottom layer.

Click and drag, while holding Opt/Alt, the Layer Mask's thumbnail of the Stripes layer on to the Highlight Layer. After applying the Layer Mask double click the bottom layer and go to the Drop Shadow section. Apply the next settings:

Step 5: Creating the Download Button

Before we start creating the Download Button, go to the Futura Font link in the resources and download the following weight of the font: Light, Medium, Bold, and Extra Bold.

Let's get started! Now, we will create the button with the same technique I showed you in Step 3. Create three new rounded rectangles with these sizes: A. 302px on 76px, B. 300px on 74px, and C. 298px on 72px. Apply on the three rectangles the Layer Styles we used in Step 3. Then, duplicate the top rectangle and apply the Settings and Layer Styles we have applied on the Stripes layer earlier.

step-005

Select the type tool. Use the Futura Font and select the Extra bold weight. Type "Free Download!". Use font size 22pt. Then, apply the style which we used on the Profile Photo. And after applying the styling options align all the layer horizontally and vertically. Just apply the Drop Shadow effect, that we applied on the bottom layer of the app, on the bottom layer, and you should get this:

step-005-2

If you got the result I did, group the button layers and name the group "Button".
Step 6: Type the Download Description Text

Select the type tool again. Use the Futura font with Black color, Light weight, and 30pt size. now write: "Download the new iDeitch App for FREE.". Change word "iDeitch"'s weight to Medium.

step-006
Step 7: Create the iTunes Store Icon

First create a rounded rectangle. width 147px, height 48px, and background color #6d6d6d. Then type "Available on the iPhone"' using Myriad Pro, in size 7.5pt and "iTunes Store" in size 18pt. Then create another, smaller, rounded rectangle which will be the iPhone later. Set its width to 18px and height to 32px. Then, Create a rectangle above the rounded rectangle which represents the screen of the iPhone (13px on 19px). After that create a circle which stands for the menu\back button (3px on 3px). Afterwards, load the selection of all the layers (except the background) and apply an Invert Layer Mask by Opt/Alt clicking the Layer Mask button. Then load again the selection of the screen and the menu button and fill the selection with White in the Layer Mask of the Background. And finally, group all the layer and name the group "iTunes Store"

step-007

Now just group the layers and groups: "iTunes Store", "Download the new iDeitch App for FREE.", "Button", and "App". Name the group "Download".
Step 8: Place our Icon in the iPhone

Open the iPhone file. Before dragging the whole iPhone document to our project I want you to hide the following layers:

step-008

After deleting the layers I showed you, group the layers left (without the background) and name the group "iPhone". Then, drag the iPhone group to our document and decrease its size to 348px on 680px and drag it until it lays besides the guides on the left.

step-008-2

Duplicate the group App and drag it into the iPhone Group, then into "Springboard Components" and then into "Springboard Icons". Then, decrease the group "App copy" by 45% (till 55%), hide the Drop Shadow effect from the bottom layer, merge all of the App copy group, and apply the Drop Shadow effect again. After that, write "iDeitch" with the following settings, and then apply the same Drop Shadow effect to the text:

step-008-3

Rename the app icon to iDeitch and group the app icon and the text which says "iDeitch". Name the group iDeitch.
Step 9: Add the comment on the iPhone

Select the type tool. type "Download Now!" with Cheyenne Hand Font, font size 16pt. Then rotate the text layer 25 degrees clockwise.

step-009

Now we're going to create the arrow. Create a new layer. name it "Arrow". Select the Pen Tool (P) and create the following path:

step-009-2

Now select the Brush Tool (B) and select the default round hard brush. Change its size to 2px. Make sure the Hardness is 100% and that your Foreground Color is black. Switch back to the Pen Tool and right click the path we have created a second ago. A new menu is supposed to open up where you have right clicked. Pick "Stroke Path". Now we have finished the arrow itself. Let's create the head of the arrow: Create the following path and repeat the steps we did to create the body of the arrow:

step-009-3

Group the "Download Now! comment and the Arrow. Name the group "Comment" and drag it into the top of the group iPhone.
Step 10: Create the Colorful Title and Background

Open the Cloud Brushes brush set. Create a new layer under the group Textures. Name it "Clouds". Select the first brush in the brush pack and paint the layer as shown below, with the colors #ffed21, #fd43f2, #3fcbee:

step-010

After finishing the background create a new layer. Select the Type Tool (T) and write "iDeitch" with the settings below. Then, type "NEW APP" with the other settings below, on a different layer. Use the color #ffed21. Then group the two text layer and name them "Yellow". Duplicate "Yellow" and rename it to "Blue". Move the Blue group a little to the right and up and apply on the layers the following Layer Styles:



After applying the Layer Styles group the groups Yellow and Blue and name their group "Title".

Step 11: Create the "Made By Ofek Deitch" Sign


Create a new layer and group it. Name the group "Made By". select the layer we have just created, and using the Type Tool (T), write "Made By" with the settings below. Then, Create another layer and type "OFEK" (The settings are found below). Create another last layer and type "DEITCH" with the setting below.



Rotate the layer that says "OFEK" 90 degrees CCW (Counter-Clockwise). Arrange the layers like this:


Create a new layer. Select the Type Tool (T) and type: "Copyright © 2011 by Ofek Deitch. All rights reserved.". Before typing, change the Type Tool's settings to the following ones:


Before we even start organizing our layers, have a look on how our layers are supposed to be ordered:



Let's start! First things first, hide all the layers except Background and Textures. Then, show the layer Clouds. After that, show the iPhone group. Make sure the iPhone is aligned to the left guide and is vertically aligned to the center of the document. Afterwards, show the Download group but hide all the layers and groups inside it. Show the group Button. Align it to the bottom guide and near the right guide. Then, show the iTunes Store group and align it to the the right guide and align it, vertically, to the center of the group Button. After that, show the text layer inside the Download group. align it to 50px above the Button group and align it, also, to the same X value (so they start together). Then, show the App group. Align it, horizontally, to the center of the text layer, and vertically to the center of the iTunes store group.



Before you continue, check according to the image above if you have done the previous step correctly until now. If so, then great! You can continue! But if not, then find what you have done wrong and fix it.

Let's continue! Show the group Title. Click Cmd/Ctrl + T to Free Transform the group. On the top left you will see this bar:



Change the X and Y values to the same as shown on the image above. Now show the "Made By" group.



Change the X and Y values to the same as shown on the image above. And finally! Show the copyright layer and horizontally align it to the left guide. Then, vertically align it to the center of the area between the bottom border of the document and the bottom guide.

Final Result :

Friday, June 10, 2011

SEO Ultimate Plugin For WordPress Blogs


I was just going through some of the plugins on wordpress.org website, I came across this wonderful plugin and I am really happy that I am writing a review on this plugin for the simple reason, its a kind of plugin which I was looking for on a long time. I would say this plugin is in fact better than headspace2 plugin which I have used on my wordpress seo tutorial? in fact I am thinking of rewriting that tutorial using this plugin because it makes your job a lot more easier and this plugin works really well with the latest wordpress version too.

With this plugin installed you can rewrite the meta datas of homepage title, post title, page title pretty easily than ever before.


screenshot 1 SEO Ultimate Plugin For Wordpress Blogs

This plugin gives you an option to unindex some of the unwanted section of your blog, this also prevents duplicate contents being indexed from your own blog.


screenshot 2 SEO Ultimate Plugin For Wordpress Blogs

Easily enter your homepage meta description, meta keywords, also force search engines to not to display the descriptions from popular directories like DMOZ or yahoo directories in search results.


screenshot 3 SEO Ultimate Plugin For Wordpress Blogs

It gives you an option to enter your meta titles and descriptions for your posts which will be displayed in search results, when you make a post, it also gives you an option to enter custom read more text, which can be effectively replaced with your keyword which you want to focus on particular post.


screenshot 4 SEO Ultimate Plugin For Wordpress Blogs

You can insert link box at the end of your posts, which people can use to share it with their friends and also enables them to share it in their own blogs.


screenshot 5 SEO Ultimate Plugin For Wordpress Blogs

It gives you an option to edit the robots.txt file too, potentially reduces your work to install a new plugin that does the same job. Its something I would highly appreciate about this plugin.


screenshot 6 SEO Ultimate Plugin For Wordpress Blogs

Download SEO Ultimate

Friday, June 3, 2011

Cara Meningkatkan ( Increase ) Alexa Rank

Bingung juga ketika ada sobat yang nanya , bagaimana Cara Meningkatkan Alexa Rank? (How to Increase Alexa Rank) kok blog belum sebulan tapi Rank Alexa nya sudah dibawah one million. Halah apa benar ..?? ketika saya lihat memang benar saat post ini dibuat rank nya 950.377. Padahal saat pasang widget Alexa ranknya 16 jutaan (million). Saya harus jawab gimana ?? .. selama ini hanya ikut-ikutan saja, yang lain pasang Alexa yoo kita juga pasang gitu aja.. tapi akhirnya langsung sowan ke oom Google untuk tanya soal itu terus dipadukan dengan pengalaman yang selama ini dilakukan.

Akhirnya jadilah postingan ini walaupun malu-malu karena age blognya baru 20 hari (saya publish blog ini tanggal 10 Januari 2010 ), so masih bayi merah, merangkak aja belum bisa apalagi berjalan , imunisasi juga belum, cuma untungnya sejak lahir dah ikut IMD alias Inisiasi Menyusu Dini plus menerapkan manajemen laktasi. haha.. Dalam IMD itu kan begitu bayi lahir langsung ditaroh didada ibunya dia harus aktif secara naluriah merayap untuk menemukan puting susu ibunya untuk menyusu , tanpa boleh ditunda dengan kegiatan menimbang atau mengukur bayi. Bayi juga tidak boleh dibersihkan dulu, hanya dikeringkan kecuali tangannya. .. lho3 .. kok nyasar keurusan susu menyusu sih.. hehe..

Kembali ke TKP ini yang saya lakukan terhadap blog ini selama 20 hari setelah kelahirannya :

1. Sign up Blog ke Search Engine Terutama Google, Yahoo dan MSN
Ini dilakukan agar blog kita cepat terindek di mesin pencari terutama yang sudah terkenel dan besar seperti Google, Yahoo, MSN dll, baru setelah itu ke search engine lainnya., lihat postingan tentang , Submit Blog ke Search Engine ,

2. Sign up Blog ke Technorati
 Technorati merupakan salah satu direktori blog yang sudah terkenal, bia juga berfungsi sebagai blogsearch, tags aggregator, online bookmarks, juga bisa mengetahui blog mana saja yg memasang link blog kita..

3. Sign up Dan Aktif Di Blog Catalog
Daftar dan aktif di Blog Catalog, atau blog direktori lainnya agar makin banyak link dari blog lain , katanya dg ini google akan semakin menganggap blog itu berbobot.

4. Blogwalking
Ini adalah cara manual yg paling ampuh, setiap blogger pasti melakukannya termasuk kedalam ini adalah kunjung mengunjung, , berkomentar dan membalas komentar apalagi jika berkomentar di Blog Dofollow, seperti blog ini.

5. Cari Backlink (Search Backlinks)
Cari backlink sebanyak-banyaknya dan berkualitas sebaiknya sih sesuai kategori blog, karena google menilai berdasarkan kuantitas dan kualitas link, tapi akhirnya mana saja yang mau bertukar link.. saya terima.

6. Install the Alexa Rank Widget
Contoh widgetnya seperti dibawah blog ini, sedangkan cara pasangnya saya baca tentang Cara Pasang Widget Alexa Rank Di Blog .

7. Install the Alexa toolbar on your browser
Menginstal Toolbar Alexa pada browser katanya akan bisa meningkatkan ranking blog/website kita, karena akan terjadi penambahan ranking point dari tante Alexa , yang ini baru kemarin saya lakukan .. hehe.. masih perlu dibuktikan. Silahkan lihat Cara Pasang Alexa Toolbar Dan Alexa Widget jika sobat ingin memasangnya.

8. Bookmark Blog Sebagai Homepage Browser
Bookmark blog sebagai homepage di komputer yang sering digunakan untuk browsing ini juga baru kemarin saya lakukan di komputer rumah sebenarnya sih ini bisa juga dikantor, diwarnet atau dimana saja, makin banyak tentu semakin baik.

9. Update Blog 2 days sekali
Pokoknya bikin postingan 2 hari sekali , lihat saja postingan blog ini baru 12 artikel, pokoknya ada kegiatan posting tanpa melihat itu bermutu atau tidak seperti postingan tentang tante Alexa ini. Jangan takut dikatakan tak bermutu , lagian penilaian itu kan subyektif, katak kita bermutu kata yang lain tidak , begitu juga sebaliknya .

10. Promotions Gratis
Setiap habis posting besoknya promosi artikel tsb , kenapa besoknya, hal ini agar postingan kita terindek dulu oleh mesin pencari seperti Google, kalau langsung di promosikan begitu selesai posting,, nanti yang lebih dulu terindek yang di web promosi itu,, apalagi kalau web iklan itu PR nya lebih tinggi… akhirnya nanti di kira kita yang jiplak atau copy paste dari sana. Kan logikanya gini blog baru itu lambat nyampe ke googlenya sedangkan yang sudah punya PR pastinya cepat.. Misalnya kalau promosi artikel di Saung Bisnisku sebagai iklan baris gratis PR 3 itu dalam hitungan menit sudah terindek di google ,, kalau gak percaya coba deh...

11. Submit Artikel ke Social Bookmark sites
Social Bookmark adalah tempat pasang tautan agar dapat link masuk searah ke blog / web kita. Social bookmarking termasuk salah satu cara menyimpan, mengorganisir, mencari, dan mengelola bookmark halaman blog di Internet. Situs2 Social Bookmark bisa dilihat disini.

12. Tulis artikel Tentang Alexa
Tulis artikel tentang Alexa misalnya seperti yang sedang sobat baca tentang Cara Meningkatkan Alexa Rank ini dan ajak para pembaca untuk men-download Alexa Toolbar. Jangan lupa saat membuat artikel tentang Alexa, selalu gunakan label atau kategori dengan keyword : Alexa, Alexa rank, Alexa traffic rank, Rangking Alexa, dsb. Intinya ada kata ' Alexa ' , ini akan membuat senang si tante yang genit ini.

13. Melakukan Ping
Lakukan ping secara berkala , saya baru lakukan ini dua kali , ping ini untuk merefresh blog kita di data base mesin pencari, bisa baca disini jika ingin melakukan Ping.
Selebihnya ya.. Berdoalah. good luck


Demikian hitung-hitung menjawab pertanyaan diatas sekaligus menututp bulan January 2010 ini dengan Tips Cara Meningkatkan Alexa Rank , semoga bermanfaat .. Greetings for Alexa.

Read Also A Simple Tutorial To Make Any Windows PC Run Faster

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Teknik Menggandakan Diri ( Twins Effect )

Tutorial Photoshop kali ini adalah tentang techniques menggandakan diri, wah kayak amoba dong! hehehe ya begitulah tapi kalau amoba kan dia memang benar - benar menggandakan diri namun kali ini kita tidak perlu pakai jurus ninjutsu ala naruto atau jurus magic tricks. How could such? what is the secret? cukup sebuah tripot dan camera dan tentu saja Photoshop

kok bisa tripot? kalau nggak punya tripot gimana? cukup camera saja cuma kita harus membuat dudukan / tempat agar camera tersebut tidak bergerak kemana - mana

Ok, here's the trick ...
1. Pertama kita ambil dulu bisa 2 photo 3 photo maupun lebih, namun untuk contoh saya pakai dua photo saja biar terkesan twin efek (efek kembar) gitu
maunya sih photo pakai sendiri tapi berhubung penulis bukan seorang fotogenik jadi ya terpaksa saya pakai foto orang lain saja

Cklik photo 1


Cklik photo 2



angle (sudut) dan letak foto sama persis, inilah gunanya tripot
bagi yang belum tahu tripot ini dia gambarnya



okay now it's time beraksi dan Learn Photoshop,

2. Pindahkan photo yang kita punya ke komputer / laptop lalu buka photo-photo tersebut dengan PHOTOSHOP disini bisa menggunakan berbagai jenis photoshop mulai dari photoshop 7 hingga yang terkini yaitu CS 5

3. Dengan Move Tool
Pindahkan foto orang bertopi ke photo orang yang tidak bertopi


4. Nah sekarang kita ganti blending modenya ke mode Screen jadi kelihatan transparan nih, hehehe



5. Nah berikutnya siapkan / klik eraser Tool



6. sekarang hapus image orang yang tidak bertopi


namun hati - hati jangan sampai kena area orang yang bertopi

7. Jika merasa sudah pas penghapusannya, sekarang kembalikan blending mode ke Normal
mau tau hasilnya? bener, mau tahu? jamaah yeee oh jamaah yeee Alhamdulillah


wow kembar , efek ( twin ) brother
Tutorials ini hanyalah merupakan contoh saja, anda bisa mengembangkan effect diatas menurut imajinasi anda


ini kreasi image lainnya..

Terima kasih telah belajar bersama ilmuGrafis, sampai jumpa lagi di Photoshop Effects lainnya
good luck...

Source  : Ilmugrafis.com

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