donderdag 5 januari 2012

Andy

Andy - Dromen

Andy -Waarom

How to add tabs to your Blogger blog

Tutorial: Saving and Sizing Your Images for Blogging

This tutorial will show you how to resize and save your photos in Photoshop so they are sharp, crisp, and perfectly sized for your blog.

If you’ve ever posted photos on your blog or Facebook, you may have noticed they are not as crisp and clear as the original image.

This is especially frustrating if you’ve spent time editing the photo, only to have it not show up as well in the image you are sharing with everyone!

In my last photoshop tutorial, I showed you how I edit my photos. I almost always do these two steps:

1. Sharpen

2. Run an action (usually Fresh & Colorful from the Pioneer Woman actions)

But if I’m going to be sharing these images here on the blog (or Facebook or email) there’s one more thing I do to get them ready.

1. Determine How Big Your Photos Should Be.

Left: Internet Explorer. Right: Firefox.

Most blogs are between 400 and 600 px wide. This blog is 600 px. To determine the width of your blog, right-click on a photo that’s already on your blog. From the menu that pops up, click on Properties (if using Internet Explorer) or View Image Info (if using Firefox).

Left: Internet Explorer. Right: Firefox.

Look at the Dimensions. The number on the left is how wide the image is. This image of my Cookies ‘N Cream Oreo Fudge Brownies is 600 px wide. That means we’ll want to resize our images for this blog to 600 px wide.

2. Resize.

Open the image in Photoshop and edit to your liking. For this image, I did a sharpen, Fresh & Colorful, then ran the Topaz Adjust Color Blast filter. Love that filter for fall pics! :)

When you’re done editing, click on Image > Image Size…

Change the width to 600 (or whatever your size is) and click OK.

Great! Now it’s the right size, but it’s not quite as sharp as the original image…

3. Sharpen.

First click CTRL-J to create a duplicate layer.

Then click on Filter > Smart Sharpen…

Change to these settings:

Amount: 60%

Radius: 0.4

And click OK.

Perfect! If it looks too sharp, you can always adjust the opacity until it looks right. (Another reason to always make a duplicate layer.)

4. Save.

Now we’re ready to save. Click on File > Save for Web & Devices…

From the screen that pops up, make sure you are saving as a JPEG and that the qualityis around 60. That’s a high enough quality for the picture to still look good, but not so huge that it will take forever to load on your page! :)

Here’s the before….

And then after we sharpened:

Or roll your mouse over the image below to see the before and after!

It’s subtle. Look at the eyes…

Note: You’ll need to be here on the blog for this to work, not reading from the email or RSS feed.

That’s all there is to it! :)

The Basics of Photoshop, Part 1: Layers

This is part one in a series of tutorials which will cover the very basics of Photoshop. It’s perfect for the beginner Photoshop user- and written in plain English, so it’s simple enough even for someone who has never used Photoshop before! :)

This tutorial, Part 1: Layers, will show you how to give your photos unique, customized enhancements by using actions- but most importantly, how to get the most out of your actions by editing the individual layers generated by those actions.

Start by opening an original, full sized photo (straight from the camera) in Photoshop. I’m using this beautiful photo my friend Cynthia took of her daughter Abby.

The first thing you want to do is make sure you have a few windows open in Photoshop- you’ll need Layers, Actions, and History. They are probably already opened by default and located on the right side of your screen- but if you don’t see them, just look at the top of the screen and click on Window and then Layers, Actions, and/or History.

Now, the first thing I think any photo needs, especially if it’s a photo from a DSLR, is a good sharpening. We are going to jump right in and make our first new layer. Click CTRL-J (*If you are using a Mac, substitute CMD instead of CTRL in this tutorial) to create a duplicate layer- it’ll appear as Layer 1 in your Layers Palette. Then, at the top of your screen, click on Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask.

Change the settings to:

Amount: 150%

Radius: 2

Threshold: 0

And click OK.

Now, for this image, the full amount of sharpening was a little too much. See how it’s looking a little grainy? (It’s kind of hard to convey, since these images have been resized for web, but I’ll do the best I can :)).

But luckily, since you had the foresight to create a new layer, you can easily adjust the amount of sharpening just by changing the Opacity of the sharpened layer, Layer 1.

Just click on where it says 100% and change that to any number- or you can click on the blue drop down arrow and use the slider. I changed mine here to 66%.

Just right. Her eyes are nice and crisp, but her hair isn’t too crunchy-looking. Some photos will need the full amount of sharpening- no shame there at all. Some will only need 50%, some less. It’s totally up to the photo, and you- the photographer! :) And what you think looks best.

When your photo is just right, look at the top of the screen and click Layer > Flatten Image. That merges all your layers to one single layer, just like it was at the beginning. You only want to do this when you’re sure you’re done tweaking. :)

Now, let’s start with our first action. For this tutorial, we will be using the free actions from The Pioneer Woman. You can download sets 1 and 2 here: The Pioneer Woman Actions. Follow her 4 short, easy steps to download, install and play your first action.

*UPDATE* You can now download The Pioneer Woman actions for Photoshop Elements!

This is what the Abby’s photo looked like after I played the action Fresh & Colorful. Not exactly the look I’m going for, but it definitely has potential. Fresh & Colorful is one of my favorite, go-to actions- but I always tweak it before saving the final image.

First let’s start with the Soft Light layer- click on the Soft Light layer in the Layers palette and adjust the opacity to 15%.

For some more color, click on the Hue/Saturation layer and adjust the opacity to 85%.

Finally, for just a little more brightening, click on the Light layer and adjust the opacity to 50%.

And that gives us this. Beautiful. Bright. Fresh & Colorful lives up to its name. :)

Now every photo is different-50% on the Light layer may be too bright- or too dark- for the next photo. 85% on the Hue/Saturation layer may be wayyyyyyyyyyy too saturated. That’s what’s great about layers. You don’t have to do the exact same thing for every single photo, because no two photos are exactly alike. I do almost always at least set the Soft Light layer back to 33% or less though- even if I leave the other two layers alone.

Now what else can we do? I think this photo could be a little warmer… in the Layers palette, click on the Background layer. Now play a new action, from set 2 of The Pioneer Woman actions, called Warmer. When the Warmer layer is at 100%, it’s a little too warm- but change the opacity to 44% and we have this:

Ahhh- Perfect. We’ve lightly highlighted her sweet rosy cheeks, those gorgeous red curls, and her stunning blue eyes- without making it look too fake and over processed.

Now we could certainly stop here, and I do recommend you Save the photo at this point and also create a Snapshot (click on the History tab and then click on the little camera to create a snapshot of your image as it is right now- so that way, no matter what you do to the picture after this, you can always come back to this point, as long as you don’t close the photo.)

But while we’re here, let’s have a little more fun. :) In the Layers palette, click on the little arrow next to the Fresh & Colorful folder to close it. Then, from set 2 of The Pioneer Woman actions, play the Seventies action.

Oh goodness gracious- so sweet! So pink! So Valentiney. Meep. Open up the Fresh & Colorful folder and play around with the layers again. I set the Soft Light layer to 0% here. Click on the Hue/Saturation layer and click CTRL-J for a double saturation boost. Click on the eye next to the layer to hide it if you don’t like it. When you love it, definitely save it and take another snapshot! :)

How about Black & White? In the History tab, go back to the first snapshot you created, Snapshot 1. Then play PW’s B & W from the first set, adjust the Light layer like it says to do when the window pops up, and then click Play again to finish the action.

Classic. I adjusted the Quick Edge Burn layer to 44% here.

So that’s it! If this was your first time editing a photo in Photoshop, congrats! Thanks for following along! :)

Effectively using layers is one of the most basic, but most important Photoshop tools you can equip yourself with. Actions are great, but without the ability to edit them specifically for your photo- you’re just kinda stuck with the basic, cookie-cutter look- and that may not always work. So now, hopefully, after this tutorial, you can achieve the customized look you want for your photo- everytime! :)

Thanks for looking! :)

Add a Signature to Every Blog Post on your Blogger/Blogspot Blog

If you have a blog, you may be wondering how to add your signature after every post on your Blogger or Blogspot blog. This simple tutorial will show you how to do it in just a few easy steps! :) This method of adding a signature will add your signature after *every* post- even posts you’ve already written! This is not like the “template method” of adding a signature, which will only add your signature on the new posts that you make- and not the old ones. Oh and stay tuned ’til the end of the post- there’s also a tutorial on how to add a post divider after your blog posts! :)

Add a signature to every blog post on blogger/blogspot

So, to add a signature, first, you’ll need to create a signature image like the one above (click here for a tutorial on how to do that) and upload it somewhere like Photobucket, TinyPic, Flickr, etc. Then…

1. Go to your Blogger Dashboard and click on Layout then Edit HTML.

2. Check the Expand Widget Templates box.

3. Click CTRL-F and copy and paste the line below in the search box to search for it in your code.

post-footer-line post-footer-line-1

It may say :

<p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1>

<div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'>

Or something similar- either is fine. Just look for that line.

4. Under that line, paste this code and change IMAGE URL to the url address of your signature image (it’s the Direct Link on Photobucket).

<img src='IMAGE URL' style='border: none; background: transparent;' /><br/>

5. Preview it and Save it! You’re done!

If your blog background isn’t white…

This tutorial doesn’t cover the making of the actual signature, but I will give this tip for blogs that don’t have white backgrounds- here’s how to make a signature so it doesn’t have a white background around it and it will blend in with any background! :)

If you use Photoshop, when you create a new image, make sure the “Background Contents” says Transparent. Then create your signature, and when saving, go to File > Save for Web and Devices.

Make sure you save the file as a PNG-24 and that Transparency is checked. The white and grey checkerboard must be around your signature for it to work! :) If you save it like this, then no matter what background you put your signature on, it will blend in (and not have a white background around it).

Want to know how to add a post divider after your blog posts?

Follow this super-easy, thorough, and beginner-friendly tutorial from Megan at Shabby Blogs!

While you’re there, take a look around! :) Don’t forget to check out her *awesome* shabby blog backgrounds and shabby blog extras!! :)

Here’s one of the new backgrounds she just added. Wouldn’t this make the *cutest* recipe blog background *ever*??? :)

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/add-a-signature-to-every-blog-post-on-your-bloggerblogspot-blog.html#ixzz1iXBRNX1o

How To Use a Custom Font for Your Entire Blogger/Blogspot Posts

Okok. So you want to change your *entire* posts to a funky font. Well, it can be done… Sort of.. I can’t figure out an easy way to change the font of your existing posts, but it can be done for any new posts you write.

click here to see a live demo of what this tutorial does

First- the boring stuff. Disclaimers. Warnings. Etc.

This tutorial is a continuation of my How To Use a Cute Font for Your Blogger Post Titles, so you’ll have to do all the stuff in that tutorial before this one will work. :)
I don’t really recommend writing every single post, all the time, the entire thing, in a custom font.
sIFR is best used for changing titles and headers, not entire blocks of text.
It will make your page load slower.
It will make your page be all jumpy and crazy-looking as it’s loading.
It won’t look perfect- you can only use one font color/size for everything you write and there may be some extra spacing/padding at the bottom, but there’s no that I know of to get rid of it (see what I mean about the padding on the demo).
I kinda like plain, easy to read fonts for the main content of a blog anyway.
If you created an account with Geocities, be sure and read this!

So! If that doesn’t bother you and you’re totally ok with all of that and you still really want to change the font of your entire blog posts… Then this tutorial is for you. :)

First, if you want to use a second font, different from your post titles for your main blog posts… Go to your blogger-sifr.js file and find the lines that look something like this:

var kevinandamanda = {

src: 'http://username.webs.com/fontname.swf'

};

sIFR.activate(kevinandamanda);

Copy and paste a duplicate of that right underneath it.

1. Convert and upload a new SWF font file, then replace the URL for the current SWF file with the URL to the new font.

2. Change the two instances of kevinandamanda to blogpostfont.

So when you’re done, it may look something like this:

var kevinandamanda = {

src: 'http://username.webs.com/fontname.swf'

};

sIFR.activate(kevinandamanda);

var blogpostfont = {

src: 'http://username.webs.com/anotherfont.swf'

};sIFR.activate(blogpostfont);

Next, paste this down at the bottom of your blogger-sifr.js file:

sIFR.replace(blogpostfont, {

selector: '#main-wrapper h3',

fitExactly: true,

tuneHeight: -5,

css: ['.sIFR-root { color: #000000; font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; }'

,'a { text-decoration: none; }'

,'a:link { color: #000000; }'

,'a:hover { color: #000000; }'

],

wmode: 'transparent',

ratios: [6, 1.93, 10, 1.92, 13, 1.86, 17, 1.82, 21, 1.8, 29, 1.79, 32, 1.78, 33, 1.77, 36, 1.78, 43, 1.77, 44, 1.76, 47, 1.77, 70, 1.76, 71, 1.75, 74, 1.76, 75, 1.75, 76, 1.76, 1.75]

});

Now if you didn’t use a second font and just want to use the same font you’re using for your blog post titles, then you’ll need to change blogpostfont back to kevinandamanda.

You can still play around with the font size and color.

Save the blogger-sifr.js file when you’re done customizing.

Next, to get this to show up on your blog: Write a new post and switch over to the Edit Html tab.