Create a Mock Magazine Cover

[Diana]

Create a Mock Magazine Cover

Here is an example image from my Gallery:

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com...mg.php?id=7705

These are the fonts I used in this particular example:
Main Header: Pickwick 130 pt
YEAR: Herald 36 pt (Each letter is a separate layer, and I moved them into place.)
Barcode: Code3X 28.8 pt

Senior Year Magazine (under the barcode): Arial Narrow 14pt
All Other Text: Berlin 18 to 24 pt, depending on the text

These fonts were included with programs I have or were downloaded free online.

Create a New Blank File

File > New > Blank File
Width: 8 inches
Height: 10 inches
Resolution: 300 pixels/inch
Background Contents: White
OK
From now on I’ll call this new blank file the “Project Image.”

Open the Photo You Wish to Use on the Cover

You should now see both your Photo and the Project Image in the Photo Bin.

Copy the Photo to the Project Image
Make the blank Project Image active in the workspace.

The easiest way to move a copy of the photo to the Project Image in PSE 5.0: From the Photo Bin, click on the Photo and while holding the left mouse button, drag the photo up to the workspace and plop it on the Project Image. Your Project Image should now have two layers: the white background layer and the photo layer.

Now you may close the original photo. Right click on the original photo in the photo bin and from the menu, select Close.

If the photo you dragged to the Project Image covers the whole background, do this to resize it smaller:

Select the Move tool, then press Ctrl-0 (zero). This should resize the view of the image so you can see the bounding box with its “handles.” With the mouse, drag in on one of the corner handles to resize the photo layer so that it is somewhat smaller than the background.

Save your New Project Image
File > Save As > Make sure the format is PSD, give it a file name and click Save. From now until your image is finished, every so often, save it as you work using the shortcut Ctrl-S.

Add a Gradient Layer
In your layers palette, with the photo layer active, hold Ctrl and click the Create New Layer icon at the top of the layers palette. This will create a new blank layer beneath the photo layer.

Rename this new layer….double click on the layer name “layer 1” and type in a new name – Gradient.

Next we will pick new Foreground and Background colors from the photo to use in our gradient.

Click the Foreground color chip at the bottom of the toolbox, which will bring up the Color Picker. Click on a light color from the photo to select for the new Foreground color.

Now Click the Background color chip and from the Color Picker select a new Background Color by clicking on a medium color from the photo.

You may need to experiment with the colors and decide to choose different colors later on, but the beauty of using layers is that you can change anything on a layer if you don’t like your first choice. A light and medium shade of the same basic color usually looks the best.

After using the photo to pick the Foreground and Background colors, hide the photo layer by clicking on the eye beside that layer in the layers palette.

Next, select the Gradient tool from the toolbox. In the options bar at the top of the workspace, click the Edit button, which will bring up the Gradient Editor box. Make sure you have the Default gradient menu selected. The way to tell is at the top of the box where it says Presets, click the More button and from the menu that pops up, select Default (about midway down the menu).

Under the Default gradients, the very first gradient in the choices given, should be Foreground to Background. Click on that first gradient square and then click OK to accept and close the box.

In the options bar, beside the Edit button, you’ll see five buttons for types of gradients. If you hover the mouse pointer over the buttons, you’ll see their labels. You can any of the types that you wish, but I used the Linear Gradient, which is the first button.

After selecting your gradient type, make sure the Gradient layer is active in the layers palette. Starting in the lower left corner of the Project Image, hold the left mouse button down and drag upward to the upper right corner, then release the mouse button. You should see your gradient fill the layer.

If you don’t like it, you can try dragging in different directions, or you can choose new Foreground and Background colors and redraw the gradient. Or you can leave it until later and redo the gradient.

Erase Part of the Photo
Make your photo layer active and visible by clicking on the eye box next to the layer. You’ll need to reposition the photo either to the left or right to leave room for the text. Select the Move tool and drag the photo layer to reposition the photo.

If the subject in the photo is turned somewhat to his/her right, move the photo to the right of the image so that the subject is in the right half of the image facing the center of the page. If subject is turned somewhat left, move photo to the left half of the image.

Get the Eraser tool and from the options bar at the top, select a soft edged brush and resize it to about 500 px at 100% Opacity.

Making sure your photo layer is active, remove the top edge of the photo by erasing it in kind of an arch shape. Don’t get too close to the subject or the eraser will feather into the subject’s head. If you do feather into the subject’s head, Ctrl-Z to undo and make the brush size smaller and try again.

Now edge of the photo closest to the center of the page, you have the choice of erasing to feather the edge like you did at the top, and leaving part of the photo background. Or you can erase all of the background around the subject’s body on that side, like in the image I made.

If you decide to remove the background around the center portion of the subject’s body, you need to zoom way in on the image, say about 300-400%, then select one of the Lasso tools (I like the Polygonal Lasso).

Starting at the top of the photo, at a point on the background photo that would make a good transition from background to no background, click once with the Lasso tool then start clicking in increments close to the subject’s body, keeping in mind you are selecting the area of background that you want to remove.



Because you will be zoomed in so far, you won’t be able to see the whole photo. When you get to a point where you need to move to view more of the photo to continue your selection, hold down the Spacebar. This will change the Lasso tool into the Hand tool and allow you to drag the photo to a new position to continue. As soon as you release the Spacebar, the Hand tool changes back to the Lasso tool and you can continue with your selection.

Be careful not to double-click because that is the signal to close the selection and you may end up with a selection across the middle of the image. If that happens, Ctrl-D to deselect, and start over.

When your selection gets to the bottom of the photo, select straight across the bottom in one click and then start back up toward your starting point, and join the two ends of the selection with a double-click. The selection should look somewhat like the dotted line in the example above.

Next you’ll need to feather the edge just a little. From the menu Select > Feather and enter a feather radius of 2 pixels, then click OK.

Now press the Delete key to remove the selected background. Press Ctrl-D to deselect to get rid of the selection.

As an option, instead of leaving part of the photo background, you may extract the whole subject by selecting around all of the subject, then from the menu Select > Inverse to change the selection to the background, and press the Delete key to delete the background. With this option, if you wish your subject’s head to overlay part of the header text after you add it, in the layers palette, drag the subject layer above the header text layer.

Continued........

[Diana]

Create a Mock Magazine Cover (Continued)

Adding the Text
Select the Type tool, and in the options bar, select a font, font size, and color, then type each section of text separately on your image. Each instance of text you add will create its own new layer. You can change the font, font size and color later if you wish.

In PSE Version 5.0, after selecting the Type tool, you can drag out a text box the size you want your text in, then starting typing. This will automatically wrap your text within the width of the box.

If you wish to move the text with the Type tool still active, hold the Ctrl key down and move the text with the cursor. When you release the Ctrl key, it reverts back to the Type tool.

If you wish to go back and edit or resize a segment of text, select the text layer you wish to edit, select the Type tool and drag your cursor across the text to select it, then edit your text, or in the options bar change the font size, or the color by clicking on the color box in the option bar.

The burst shape on my example was done with the Custom Shape tool, which is found in third tool set up from the color chips. Right click on the icon and you’ll see the whole set. The Custom Shape tool is the one that looks like a speech bubble. I have a set of Shapes called Burst which I downloaded, I believe from the Adobe Photoshop Exchange, which I used for the example image.

After clicking on the Custom Shape tool, in the options bar, click the Shape dropdown arrow, then click the small arrow at the top right of the flyout menu to get another menu of more shape sets. Find a shape you want to use, change the Foreground color to the color you want your shape, then drag the shape out on the image. It will create its own new layer. You can resize and position it as needed with the Move tool.

When you are done with all the steps, you can fine-tune your magazine cover by editing, resizing, repositioning the elements, etc., until it looks exactly like you want it to.

Here's the completed example in my Gallery:

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com...mg.php?id=7705

Diana