Cool, Fun, and Edgy

Here is a really cool outfit that produces some of the most detailed images out there. Not only are these really, really cool but they are open source psd files.

The first thing you have to do is decide what size your image is going to be that you will be placing in the GA file. CS is totally cool with reducing images but has fits about pulling data out of thin air when enlarging images. (For that use Genuine Fractals form OnOne Software.) The templates from the Graphics Authority folks are grouped into different frame sizes. Some of the larger frames have some serious image sizes... 240 MB is nothing to scoff about.

Once you have picked out the template it opens up in PS and the layer is usually selected. All you have to do is insert you image where the Your Image Here layer is indicated. Some cropping may be in order or a slight transform here and there and you end up with a very different image than you may have envisioned on the outset of your project.

Here is my wife and I that I inserted into the template. Obviously I had to extract us from another image and work on Levels, Hue Saturation, and I even think I dropped a cooling slight lens filter into the mix. Once the image on the source file is all set it is easiest to flatten the image and bring the result into the template.

BTW, I do not make a practice of flattening my images. I never know when I might want to use a layer from an image or just change things up a bit. In this case I used the keyboard shortcut of Shift-Option-Command-E on the Mac or Shift-Alt-Ctrl-E on the PC. Do this from the top of the layers stack and any visible layer will be flattened into a new layer leaving all the other layers intact. It is rally cool if you can get your fingers to hit the keys. 

I think that will do it for today.

Doug