Can't Add Stroke to Photoshop Path - Fix

Just thought I'd drop by to update the blog a bit. Here is a recent error I couldn't find the fix online for, but found out myself.

If you're reading this, you have created a path with the Vector tool in Photoshop, and you aren't able to Stroke or Fill the path with your brush. First off, here is the fix that helped me:

Make sure that when you select the Vector tool, you have "Paths" selected at the top-left choices in Photoshop (see below image).

This was my problem. Now I’ll present some other tips in case this didn’t work:

• make sure you have a regular layer selected, with Normal style and 100% opacity and fill. This means no Fill, or Path Layers
• make sure you’ve set your brush correctly. You can use a default brush, which should work right away. If you want to use a more interesting brush, make sure it’s Spacing is enabled, and not too high. (F5 for the Brushes window)

Hope I helped someone with this :)

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:

Now, select the Custom Shape Tool:

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

Out 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)

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

 

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

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

 

 

 

Now, 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:

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

Select the Magic Wand Tool, and click out side the stamp shape:

 

 

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

  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.

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:

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 :)

#38 Photoshop won’t change from Hand tool!

This has happened to me today, of course at the time when I urgently need Photoshop(in my case CS4), and I found the solution. If you Googled this and wound up here searching for the fix to this, chances are the problem will fix itself by the time you are reading this, if not, try the trick below:

If you Photoshop is stuck on the Hand tool, try this:

Edit – > Preferences – > General – > [Reset All Warning Dialogs]

Problem should be solved now!

#37 Links from TweetDeck not opening in Opera?

Not my usual forte, but I had this problem, and I just had to share the solution with you!

Windows XP has this section for setting the default browser on your machine, and that might be causing you trouble. For the sollution, got to your Control Panel, and then proceed to Add/Remove Programs.

                                

After that click on Set Program Access and Defaults.

Click on the double down arrow next to the Custom option to open up the settings that we need.

Under the menu for Choose default Web Browser select Opera(or any other browser you want). Don’t worry about the checkbox on the right.

You are done! This has worked for me. I have seen reports that you  might need to restart your PC for this to take effect, so try that if it doesn’t help!

#36 Give Your Photos Power, in a few clicks

Have you ever wondered how other photographers have powerful colors in their photos? If you thought it’s all in the camera, you are way off track! Read on to find out the truth behind these photos…

Decide which photo you want to empower and open it in Photoshop (i think this works in all CS versions).

1) Duplicate the background layer (the only layer):

2) Apply a Gaussian blur to the new layer, to such an extent that you can’t make out the details, but you can make out the shapes:
Click on the picture for a better view.

3) And finally change the upper layers blending to Overlay:

And you’re done! This particular photo looks like this:

Now that you know this simple solution, you can add other tricks to the same photo, like using this as a border, or applying it only to the background.

You can diminish this effect by reducing the opacity of the upper layer.

And remember, this was taken with a 100$ camera, so I am pretty sure you can do it with whatever you got ;)

Flaky Collector by ~NebojsaC on deviantART

#35 Easy Do-It-Yourself Frames for Photoshop, Brush Shapes

This is a quickie. To get you started:

1) Open the image you want done

2) Make a copy of the Background Layer, and delete the original background layer

3) Make an New Layer beneath the picture(check image for consistency)

 

4) Hold down ALT and click on the line between the layers(as shown on the image below)

Your layer should move slightly to the right like so:

 

You should now have a blank screen to work with. Now, take your Brush, set it’s Size and Hardness, and start painting on the empty layer!

My tip Is to use different shapes for your brushes for some interesting effects. For starters, try the built in leaf brush and you might get something like this(image on right).

For an added frame effect you can always add Stroke borders on your layer, and a background layer with a color or gradient on the bottom.

This has many possibilities, and try combining with other tricks you know for some exciting results.

You could also look for more Brush packs for Photoshop. A good place to start is http://www.brusheezy.com/.

#34 Easy Do-It-Yourself Frames for Photoshop, Photo Borders

The simplest frames are often the best ones. Especially if you’re in a hurry, or don’t want to lose focus with the photograph you’re framing.

For this particular tutorial, a good choice of photograph would be one where the photo has one or two dominating colors. A good example is a wedding photo, where the dominating colors are the colors of the bride’s dress and bouquet, but anything will do. My choice:

The obvious colors here are that purplish-blue  flower and the orange-yellow bee. The photo(by my standards) isn’t bad on it’s own, but suppose you want to add a bit of style to it.

Okay, now go to Image –> Canvas Size (Alt + Ctrl + C), and set it like so(click for a close up):

So you just change the units to percent, set it to Relative and type in 6 (or any smaller number) for the size. For the Canvas extension color you click on the color box next to, and click on your image. Your mouse pointer turns into an eyedropper tool, and you choose the color for your border. This way you use the color from you picture. Click OK for the color picker, and OK again for the Canvas Size. I got:

The first part is done. Now, repeat what you did with the Canvas Size, but change the size to 30 this time, and pick another dominating color from the photo.

If you are not happy with the color picker, you can choose it manually.

So basically you make two different sized bands around the photo.

Looking at it now, I probably should have used a darker purple. But maybe it’s just my BBB(black blog background).

Variations on this subject can include, but are not limited to:
-using more(or less) than 2 borders/colors
-different sizes, like making the first border thicker
-adding the Vignette effect beforehand for interesting results
-and so on…

Once you’ve read through this, you will realize that the longest part of this tutorial is looking for, and opening the photo, while the rest just zips by. Have fun with it!