Finding corners of large object or layer in Photoshop

Mixing and matching different photos, pngs, vectors, etc. is one aspect that makes photo manipulation so addictive.  Most of these are various sizes and shapes, and have to be resized to 'fit' with what your vision is.

A headache that I kept coming across working on different book covers, was adding an object/background/etc. and not being able to find the edges to 'transform' it to a manageable size.  {Hard to find a trick for it on-line.}

But, I did stumble across how to get this done.  And even managed to do it a second time, and a third!  So... in case you have been trying to find a work around for this.  Here ya' go!

1) Have your PS doc open {I think this is a given, but...}

2) Select the layer that needs to be reduced, and open transform tool.  'Ctrl' + 'T'

The X and Box will now show up, but the corners {all of them, or just two} won't be within the doc bounds.

3) 'Ctrl' + '0' {zero} moves the view back til the bounds of the layer are visible.  Ta-Da!!!

Now you can size down the image, move it around, flip it, etc. without struggling to find the corner and see where the layer will end up in relation to your other layers.

4) Now click on a different layer, or close out of the transform tool {click on brush tool or something}, then 'Ctrl' + '0' {zero} will take you back to your background size layer filling the window.

Now you can keep the layer uncropped for fast resizing if needed, and still find the corners easily. Hope this helps speed up your Photoshop processes!

Sources used in this image:
Model: Diana 3 by CathleenTaraWhiti
Background: Countryside by Cathleen TaraWhiti
Smoke Brushes: from Smoke Action Pack by Seven Styles
Gate: Minaya86 Stocks

Add a Sky Overlay to your photos

Adding a sky overlay can add a lot of depth to your landscape, or wide perspective, photos, and it is an easy edit using your gradient tools.

{Original Photo from Pixabay.com}

Using a gradient allows you to show off the cloud overlay, while helping the overlay to blend seamlessly with the content of your photo.

My post, Playing with Sky Overlays, has links to the tutorial that I found helpful in using gradients as a blending method when substituting skies in your photos.

Additional retouching to this photo:

Whiten Highlights

Trash Removal

Contrast & Color Boost

{Photo from Pixabay.com}

 Want to see more of edited photos?  Check out these retouched images.  Thanks for visiting!

Playing with Sky Overlays

Spent some time this week playing with several things.  Revising the DCompton Logo... {again, LOL}, and also looking for ways to improve some photos.

Found a new photographer resource in Morgan Burks site; www.MorganBurks.com

Her free samples let you try out her product.  Something I appreciate.  Since I get to see how her products will work before plopping my money down.  You do have to use your e-mail, but hey... they are useful and a great tool to have.

The tutorials are very clear and helpful.  I only looked at a couple this weekend, but will surely be going back to her list to check out more of them.

Following her instructions of the Sky Overlay Tutorial lead me to try combining these two pics:

I love the focus of the grass heads in contrast to the soft focus on the girl's face.  For the edit I used a sharpening brush over her body and foreground, then overlaid the sky.  Following Morgan Burks' tip on matching the overlay to the focus of the horizon in the photo, I used a fairly heavy gaussian blur to soften the sharpness of the clouds.  The finished product is very nice.

Here is the link to the free sample products: overlay, actions, etc. that you can try out from Morgan Burks.

I have my eye on her collection of Cinematic Overlays.  Who wouldn't want this fabulous collection of 102 overlays?

Now I find myself going back through my photos to see what ones have stunning skies that I can use to spruce up the tops of the photos I am editing.  ;-)