Pro Techniques

Plug-In Tools For Image Enhancement; Add Contemporary Edges, Artistic Frames, Brushes, Backgrounds, And Templates To Your Photos With Graphic Authority Tools Page 2

The flowers are a bit too large, so I re-size them. With the flowers layer active in the Layers palette, press Ctrl-T (Win) or Command-T (Mac) for the Transform tool, and drag the corner handles while holding the shift key to proportionally re-size the flower photo. Press Return (PC) or Enter (Mac) to apply the transform. I position them within the frame via the Move tool.

8. With the flowers re-sized, they are now perfectly framed and enhanced within the Graphic Authority background which adds artistic hand-drawn elements and a gradient complementary color background.

9. I began with this portrait of Paulina, 4x6” at 300dpi.

10. For this energetic young woman, a lively, contemporary backdrop was what I was looking for. I found 02.psd in the Volume 1 Artistic Expressions templates featuring multiple layers of splashes and drops.

11. With both files open in CS3, I dragged the portrait onto the template. It came in as Layer 5 which I then dragged just below the “Your Image Here” layer which I then deleted. After positioning Paulina with the Move tool, I felt that the brightness of her image did not mesh with the rest of the image.

12. With Paulina’s layer active, I went to the top right of the Layers palette and lowered its opacity to 50 percent. This blended her into the background and introduced a color tint. This final rendering adds both mystery and dynamic energy to the portrait.

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