Something Interesting ......

[Pam]

Emily, that's it! It looks great. Textures are tons of fun to work with...you're going to come up with all kinds of reasons to use them. Keep experimenting!

[emilylt87]

um that one was linear dodge i believe...thanks, yea i do liek texture now thanks again pam...oh how did you get the outside edges to look burnt??

[Pam]

Emily,

I used the burn tool around the edges to darken. I set it to Shadows and used a low opacity. Another method is to open a new empty layer set to overlay or soft light on top and use a black brush at low opacity around the edges. Use a white brush to lighten.

You could also make a selection just inside the edges using the rectangular marquee tool, invert the selection (Ctrl + I), feather it, then use curves or levels to darken. This gives a different result than the burning I described above. Use whichever you think looks good.

[Imko]

heres my try, was fun to do
one with light flare one without.

[LonK]

Nice, Imko (and welcome). Oh... the 2nd. Lens flare is just a gimmick. Use it VERY sparingly, if at all. Certainly not in this case.

[JamesEssex]

Cool, I like both with and without the lens flare! How did you get such a smooth line when selecting around me for the new background?
Thats always my issue ... it comes out all jaggedy!

[Imko]

Originally Posted by LonK

Nice, Imko (and welcome). Oh... the 2nd. Lens flare is just a gimmick. Use it VERY sparingly, if at all. Certainly not in this case.

Thanks (also for the welcome and the tip about the lens flare), I will keep that in mind for the next time I'll use a lens flare effect.

Originally Posted by JamesEssex

Cool, I like both with and without the lens flare! How did you get such a smooth line when selecting around me for the new background?
Thats always my issue ... it comes out all jaggedy!

Glad you like them. I use a layer mask, with the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) i delete what i don't want (the background), since you don't want it to come out jaggedy you'd have to 'click a lot' (dont know how to explain it else) so it won't come out jaggedy but smooth.

Of course you can also choose to use the Magnetic Lasso Tool, it depends on what you prefer.

[DJSoulglo]

Originally Posted by Imko

Glad you like them. I use a layer mask, with the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) i delete what i don't want (the background), since you don't want it to come out jaggedy you'd have to 'click a lot' (dont know how to explain it else) so it won't come out jaggedy but smooth.

Of course you can also choose to use the Magnetic Lasso Tool, it depends on what you prefer.

Or use the pen tool. It's the best selection tool there is in Photoshop for smooth edges.

[Imko]

Originally Posted by DJSoulglo

Or use the pen tool. It's the best selection tool there is in Photoshop for smooth edges.

oh i had no idea that you could also make selections with the pen tool. i work with the pen tool when making vectors in illustrator but had no idea you could make selections with it in adobe.

[Photomaster]

This one is way far out!

[JamesEssex]

Oh I like it - I feel like Superman ;-)

[Photomaster]

The Euro look.

[DeepGlimpse]

Wow Pam, that's insanity work right there. You're probably the best re-toucher I've seen on this wonderful forum. That is TRULY inspiring me! How long have you been re-touching for?

[bpm]

here is my try guys.i like your work pam,a couple of pictures in your portofolio are really good.great color control