Thursday, January 19, 2017

Texas Sky Photo Overlays

I have set up a stock gallery on DeviantArt.com to share free downloads of photos.  These three Texas sunset photos are the start.  I will update the gallery with a variety of photos that you can add to your retouches and/or photo manipulations.  Link for Desiree Compton's Stock Gallery








~Desiree

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Road Trip Computer Desktop Background


Enjoy this wide open road... 


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Photo from Pixabay.com

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Sheet Metal Desktop Background Freebies

Industrial Computer Background using sheet metal as the base for this free download to organize your desktop icons and docs.


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Enjoy!  Desiree

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Iced Over City - Action Premade Book Cover

Premade eBook and Print Cover Design 1704: Iced Over City works for both an Adventure/Action novel and also a chick flick.












Available for Purchase at TheBookCoverDesigner

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Design 1707 - Alice in the Woods

About all this model has in common with the remembered storybook character is the fun and spunky costume.   Getting into the design of this, I was wanting to work on my compositing skills.  Getting a person, or any specific object, from one photo and into the scene I am creating is definitely one of my current weak spots.  So, my main focus was working on developing skills to be further refined on my next pieces.  Pick one thing to be the thing you obsess about fixing, and figure out how to get that one thing done.  Complete.  Finido!

The background/foreground scene around the subject is a collection of different leaf and tree photos from Pixabay.com.  I moved and nudged each photo to get it in the right place with the right edge and the right order from front to back.  A video I spent time watching that influened my color coordinating during this project was youtube videos by Rafy-A as he works through a piece.

Here is the completed Book Cover Design:




An assortment of leaves.  Again each found on Pixabay.com





Links:
https://pixabay.com/en/autumn-avenue-trees-away-road-1010535/
https://pixabay.com/en/fall-foliage-maple-leaves-fallen-62787/
https://pixabay.com/en/autumnal-beautiful-color-dawn-1868944/
https://pixabay.com/en/autumn-avenue-trees-away-road-1010535/
https://pixabay.com/en/allg%C3%A4u-autumn-leaves-trees-63427/
https://pixabay.com/en/autumn-trees-woods-yellow-fallen-265901/


'Alice'  is Model: Dani L and the photo is from jagged-eye on Deviantart.com.  You can check out what her photo looked like when taken at http://www.deviantart.com/art/Dani-L-Bloody-Alice-2a-389486936

To wrap this post up... here is the design I am submitting to my gallery on DeviantArt, and the Book Cover design is available for customization.





Thanks for visiting!  ~Desiree


Tuesday, January 10, 2017

College Romance Premade Book Cover

Premade Book Cover Design for Young Adult, College Romance categories.  Both eBook and full wrap cover designs ready for your customization.  Cover Design No. 1703







Saturday, January 7, 2017

Turbulent Fields - Basic Photo Composite


Simple Composite of background and model.  Started this design to enter for Cathleen Tarawhiti's book cover design contest.  Did not complete in time for the submission deadline.  Spent to much time wandering around playing with different technique's.  Loved the lavender's in the model's dress, and how the colors play along with the sky. 






Credits:
Model - Beth Wellington - Cathleen Tarawhiti Stock
cathleentarawhiti.deviantart.c…
Background - Countryside - Cathleen Tarawhiti Stock
cathleentarawhiti.deviantart.c…
Moon - pixabay.com/en/moon-super-moon…


You can check out my page on Deviant Art at DesireeCompton-DA



Friday, January 6, 2017

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

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

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!



Monday, January 2, 2017

Freebie - Organizing Desktop Background of Fall Lake

Happy New Year y'all!  Here is another organizing background for your pleasure.

This background highlights the gorgeous fall colors around this peaceful lake.  Fall colors are something I sorely miss seeing out my back window here in Texas.  A seasonal background helps fill that gap, but I still daydream about taking a trip up the east coast to see the seasonal display the trees there make each fall.

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1280 x 1024


Enjoy!


Sunday, January 1, 2017

Paranormal Premade Book Cover - Before and After

The finished cover as shown ready for purchase:



Images used to create the finished cover:




Thanks for joining me for this Before & After.  Finished cover is available for purchase at TheBookCoverDesigner and the photos used were from Pixabay.com