Photoshop Tutorial - Creating a Cloud brush

I have gone around the net and came by a few people asking:

"How do I make those cloud brushes?" Well, the answer is simple: Follow this tutorial ;)

Step 1:

Take a photo of a cloud, or just grab one from the net. Im going to use this one .

Nowwe are going to desaturate the image (Because brushes can't have color). Press Ctrl + Shift + U.

Step 2:

Now we are going to invert the image by pressing Ctrl + I.

Step 3:

In photoshop, brushes work by a black to white transparancy gradient. This means that everything that is black will be opaque, but white will be transparent. Greys become transparent in relation to their darkness – so a darker grey will be less transparent than a light grey.

In our image so far we can see that the background is a dull grey colour, which means it will not be fully transparent. To help remedy this, we will adjust the levels. Go to Image>Adjustments>Levels, or press ctrl+L

You can see how I’ve changed my settings below. If you’re lazy, you can move the right slider more to the left so that the background is completely white and you can skip straight to making it into a brush. However, doing this will lose some of the detail, and you will end up with a harsher, less natural looking cloud. So I recommend that you do it like I did, or close to that.

After doing so you will get something like this.

Step 4:

As you can see, the background is still a light grey, which will stop it from being fully transparent. To fix this, we will use the dodge tool to lighten the areas around the cloud, without affecting the actual ‘wisps’ and detail in the cloud.

Set the dodge tool to work on the ‘highlights’ (the lighter areas) of the image, or it will just wash out the black colours. It is also a good idea to set the opacity down to 20-40% so that you can get more detail with the dodge.

Now that the cloud is surrounded by white, we can finally make it into a brush. However, there is still a piece of cloud visible in the bottom right of the image. We want to choose just the central cloud to make into a brush, so we use the lasso tool to select it.

Step 5:

We then go to Edit>Create Brush to create the brush. Remember that in photoshop 7 and higher, the maximum brush size is 2500×2500px. In photoshop 7 and below it is 999px. If your image is a higher resolution than this, you will need to resize it.

Give your brush a clever or witty name like ‘Cloud Brush’ so that it can be organized later if you wish.

Now go on, and start using it! If you want it be more beautiful, make more brushes.

Original post: http://www.tutorialized.com/view/tutorial/Creating-A-Cloud-Brush/50973

Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual review

Sorry I haven't updated lately, I was busy with school and stuff. Now that I'm back, I'll start with a rather different type of post

I bought Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual! I have already gone through it, and I thought that you guys would like to know more about it too, so I'm going to post a few comments from people, and my own opinion on them. But first, a quick description of the book:

Photoshop is the world's most widely used photo-editing and graphics program. But with all its fantastic new features and options, the CS4 version can bewilder even the most seasoned professional. That's where Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual comes in: packed with tips, tricks, and lots of practical advice, this visually rich four-color guidebook teaches you everything you need to know to edit photos and create beautiful documents in Photoshop.

Whether you're an absolute beginner or a power user ready to try some advanced techniques, author and graphics pro Lesa Snider King offers crystal-clear, jargon-free instructions to help you take advantage of these powerful tools--not only how they work, but when you should use them. You'll quickly get up to speed on new CS4 features such as:

• Photoshop's completely revamped workspace
• Smoother image display and quick zoom, including the new pixel grid view
• New Masks and Adjustments panels
• The Vibrance adjustment layer
• Hand-painting adjustments and using graduated filters in Camera Raw
• Enhanced Adobe Bridge

And much more. You'll also find out which features work well, and which aren't worth your time. Written with the clarity, humor, and objective scrutiny that are hallmarks of the Missing Manual series, Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual is the friendly, thorough resource you need. Why settle for anything less?

"I just saw Photoshop World instructor Lesa Snider's new book, Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual, and it so reminded me of when Deke McClellend used to writeThe Photoshop Bible, (which I loved) because it literally covers everything about Photoshop (it's nearly 900 pages!). Lesa did a great job on the book, and in my mind, it is the new Photoshop Bible. Way to go Lesa!"
--Scott Kelby, Photoshop Insider

You're right, I think I'm not atheist anymore.

To say that there are a number of Photoshop help books on the market has got to be one of the great understatements of all time. So, what makes you want to pick up "Photoshop CS4: The Missing Manual"? There are a few reasons: 1) Being part of the O'Reilly Missing Manual Series. Past personal history with these titles have been good. 2) The author. Having seen Lesa speak personally, she probably has forgotten more about Photoshop than I know, and 3) The Goldilocks theory of book size. There are PS books that are much bigger (and actually can hurt to lift after a while) or smaller (and don't really cover enough).

Weighing in at 750 pages (not counting the index) PS CS4: TMM (sounds like a Star Trek series) is broken down into 5 areas: Basics, Editing, Artistic, Printing/Web Output, and PS Power, making it very easy to find what you are looking for.

Now, normally in a PS book or manual, trying to read the copy makes my eyes start to glaze over and start to drift, but that is not the case with this book. Her writing has an easy humorous style about it, keeping you reading. Add to that plenty of COLOR photos to guide you, and this is one book that will have a prominent place on the bookshelf until it gets worn out and replaced with an exact duplicate

BOTTOM LINE Yes, I would recommend this to a friend

-Mark Mindlin

True, I would recommend this book too. Nothing wrong with it, its just superb.

I am a novice to Photoshop and I became aware of a feature called Curves. Not really knowing what curves does, I bought 2 Adobe books that just briefly touched on the subject. The Missing Manual totally explained the feature and provided me with a better understanding of said feature. This is an excellent book it has so much information and so well written. Easy to read and I highly recommend the Missing Manual to Novices like myself. Thanks!

-Fullerlois

The book explains it, but you could also find out how to use curves on he internet. But still a book is more personal , and explains things better to me than a computer.

I hope you all enjoyed reading the comments on this great book, and I hope that you will buy this book. It's worth it. Really. (link below)

CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOK