Tuesday, April 27, 2010

From Photo to Postage Stamp

Decided to drop the post numbering, it seems a bit silly in retrospect. Haven’t posted anythig here in a while ‘cause I thought noone reads it, but I have been proven wrong and I’m back :)

First things first. Open Photoshop and an Image you want to work on:Open you image

Now, select the Custom Shape Tool:Custom Shape tool

And from the Custom Shapes list, select the postage stamp:

Stamp Shape

Fill PixelsOut of the 3 choices in the upper left corner of your screen, click on the 3rd one (fill pixels):

Create a new layer: SHIFT + CTRL + N (press OK)

Stamp on PhotoDraw the postage shape on the new layer(no matter the color):

 

Right click the new Layer in the Layer Palette and then Blending Options: Blending Options

In this window, first thing to do is move the second slider(Fill Second Slideropacity) to zero:

 

 

 

CheckboxesNow, check the Bevel and Emboss, and Drop Shadow boxes to the left:

Now it’s time to play with the settings. Depending on the size of your photo, you are going to need different settings, but I’ll tell you what settings to keep in mind.

 

Click on Drop Shadow, and you will get it’s settings. Play with the Size and Spread sliders ‘till you get what you want:

Spread and Size

You could also mess with the Bevel settings, but we will skip that for now, so just click OK.

Magic WandSelect the Magic Wand Tool, and click out side the Click outside of stampstamp shape:

 

 

Select the photo from the Layer Palette, and press DELETE:image

  That would be it! You might want to change the background color, so with the outer part still selected, take the Paintbucket tool, with white color, and color it in.image

You don’t have to stop here. Invert the selection with SHIFT + CTRL + I(so the photo is selected), go to the filter gallery: Filter – > Filter Gallery, and choose an effect. I chose the Cutout filter, and added some text:

image

That’s it. There are some variations on the subject, and I would love to know what you would change to suite your needs, so feel free to write a comment on the subject :)