Photoshop Friday: Adding a Border

Tags

Actor, Actor Headshot Photographer, Adobe Photoshop, Bowens, Bowens Softbox, CT Actor Headshot Photographer, CT Headshot Photographer, Headshot, Headshot Phtographer, Interfit Monolight, Nikon, Photoshop, Photoshop Friday, Photoshop Tips, Sony

Hi and welcome back.

This is a simple technique that I use all the time.  The Actor headshot requires you to add borders to images and names to the bottom of your headshot so the casting director knows right away who you are.

Adding borders is simple.  Here is how I do it:

Here is my image ready to be cropped.  As I need to make an 8×10 final image, I crop my image to a specific size first: 

Here I chose the Crop tool and set my parameters to Width 7.5 and Height 9 inches.  I chose this size at it allows me to add my border perfectly for an 8×10:

I set my crop and then hit ok: 

Here is my image cropped and ready for my white border: 

To add the border, go to Image>Canvas Size and click to get the size box up:

Here I choose my width to be 8 inches and height to be 9.5 inches.  The height gives me a continuous border that is the same size on all four sides.

Where it says Anchor, keep all the arrows pointing out from the center, which is my image.

On the bottom of the box where is says Canvas Extension Color, I chose white but you can choose black or gray as well:

Here is the image with the continuous border:

Now I go back to Image>Canvas Size, click again, and then change Height to 10 and Anchor to showing all the bottom and right and left sides.  This allows me to change my height on the bottom only: 

Here is my image in the 8×10 format with a 1″ border on the bottom and 1/2″ on three sides: 

Now I go to the Text box and set my font, set my text size, and then color to add the name on the lower right corner of the image:

Here is the final ready to be saved as and delivered to the client:

Here are the before and after’s:

You can add a border to any image and set the bottom a bit thicker so that you can add a name or title or anything else you need.

I supply my actors with both images so they can use them for castings and in their book if needed.

That’s it for today.  Till next time, happy bordering!

Photoshop Friday

Tags

Actor, Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lesson, Adobe Photoshop Tips, B/W, black and white, Black and White conversion in Photoshop, CT Actor Headshot Photographer, CT Headshot Photograher, Model, Simple Black and White

Hi and welcome back.

Today let’s take a look at a simple black and white conversion.

Black and white images area powerful and beautiful.  Without the noise of color, there is an understated elegance to a black and white image.

In this image, I want to go to B/W and then push contrast a bit.

Open your image in PS and copy the background layer using CTRL>J

Use the Keystroke command CTRL>J to copy the background layer or drag and drop your background layer over the little icon on the bottom that looks like a sticky note pad with a dogeared page next to the trash bin:

For a simple and fast conversion without having to deal or with with the RGB channels, just add a Hue/Saturation layer by clicking on the half black/half white icon on the bottom of the layer palette and and drop all of the saturation out of the image:

On top of that layer, add a Brightness/Contrast layer and push the contrast up a bit.  A simple desaturation will leave you image lacking contrast between the highlights and shadows:

Voila!  Here is a beautiful b/w conversion.  Use the Contrast slider to taste as some images may need more or less contrast:

Here is the side-by-side example.  Now I have a beautiful b/w image that only took a few seconds to create.

I’ll be at Unique Photo tomorrow, so I hope to see you there!

Till then, happy shooting.

Photoshop Friday: Actions

Tags

Actor headshots, Adobe Photoshop, beauty, black and white, California Sunbounce Reflectors, CT Actor Headshot Photographer, natural light, Nikon, NYC Actor Headshot Photographer, off camera flash, Photoshop, Photoshop Tips, Sony, Sony A 7II

Hi and welcome back.

One of the great attributes of Photoshop is the ability to have it work for you.  I use Actions all the time to change the look of my images.  I rarely have the time to truly mess around with my images, so I use actions to do most if not all the work for me.

You can make actions yourself, more on that next Friday, or purchase them form Totally Rad, Kubota, Pretty Presets, or any of the action set manufactures out there.

I love actions as I can batch edit or convert images en masse.

Let’s take a look at the basic action setup:

Here is Photoshop with the image I want to work on.  In the upper right corner is the Action Palette Arrow:

See the arrow above.  You click on the arrow to reveal the palette.  Once the palette is up on the monitor, you can choose the action you want to run.  Here, I will use Totally Rad Action Bitchen Blacka and White for my instant b/w conversion.

But if I choose the little downward pointing arrow in the upper right corner of the palette, I can choose button mode.  This mode highlights my actions with colors and eliminates the two step process of choosing your action and then choosing to run it with the arrow above.

See how it is highlighted on the right in blue.  Click on Button Mode and you’ll get a nice set of buttons to run your actions: 

Now my Bitchen B&W action is ready to be clicked and the action run: one click service!

Here is my image after the action has run.  Simple, easy, perfect:

Here’s a before and after that only took a few seconds.  And if you don’t like it, drag and drop the action to the trash can and start over:

Actions are a simple and easy way to convert or save simple adjustments for your images.  I have a 50% contrast adjustment, sharpening, and adding a copyright action that I built to save time.

I hope this helps and look for the next PS posts to be on creating actions and how to use them to batch edit your photos.

That’s it for now.  Till next time, happy processing!