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How to make a custom Brush for photoshop (PSD) to Watermark

If you have photoshop you are already aware of the awesome brushes you can use to customize your online work for scrapbooking, templates, and pictures. There are hundreds of sites online with pre-created brushes like:

But what happens if you want something more personalized or to use for commercial purposes? I wanted to show you a quick and easy way to create your own brushes that you have rights to and can be used to Watermark your images. You can package these brushes for download for others or use for a personal creation.

I also happen to think its a fabulous way to Copyright your photos with your site logo or name.

This can be especially useful as a mom  blogger with pictures of reviews and children on your site. It looks a ton more professional and takes a lot less time than typing text over each photo.

A few before thoughts: Anything white is transparent, so its not necessary to be overly thoughtful on cutting out images with a ton of white around them like the sample below.

Step one:

Pick a photo or text to use for your brush. You can create something by hand in a sheet or use a photo you have taken. Its common sense to know that you need to have rights to the image you use.

I picked an image of MomDots Header Logo.

Make a Custom PSD Brush

Step 2: Your photo or image needs to be turned black and white for best results. CNTRL + SHFT + U = black and white.

Make sure you fine tune after that and sharpen/darken your image.

custombrushPSE

Step 3: Click on the LASSO and select the part of the image you are turning into a brush. For this image, we want the full word of MomDot. You may have a picture where you are cutting out a flower from a group of flowers. This is where you would do that.

makeaPSEbrush

createcustombrush

Step 4: Go to your EDIT on top and scroll down to you reach this:

custombrushinstructions

Step 5: Name your Brush.

namecustombrush

Step 6: Now to test it out!

Go to your brushes and select your new brush. Dont forget to adjust the size and if you want to change the opacity and color.

I pulled a picture of Charlotte to put the logo on.

custombrushtutorial

copyrightphotos

Use for quick and easy marketing of your site or twitter account!

findmeontwitter

And the end result with a copyright that is hard to remove off of your images:

charlottewithpsdbrush

Last but not least, don’t forget to save your new brushes in a preset so they are there next time!

savebrushesinpreset

I hoped this tutorial helps you in continuing to protect and create awesome images and custom designs for your site!

~Trisha


Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Elements Giveaway $149 CLOSED

If you are a blogger, you know the importance of having a top noche video program and a graphics program, and there is nothing better on the market then Adobe Premiere Elements 7 (for videos) and Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, that has ease of use and amazing options.

With Adobe’s all-in-one software bundle, it’s quick and easy to:

  • Create the perfect photo with powerful, one-click editing tools like Scene Cleaner (erases tourists or unwanted objects from photos), Toothbrush (whitens teeth) or Blue Sky (makes skies a vibrant blue)
  • Put together a polished movie in 15 minutes or less with a simple drag and drop of a Movie Theme – a collection of transitions, titles, sounds and effects
  • Access and show off photos and videos from anywhere with an Internet connection
  • Be inspired by project ideas, tutorials and templates that are delivered directly into the desktop software
  • And much, much more!

Adobe sent me a ton of press related items to share for for their programs, but flat out, I am going to say that these programs are great. EVERY VIDEO ON MOMDOT has been made by an Adobe program and they are getting better and better. With the new Adobe Premiere Elements 7, you can make a green/blue or red screen (just buy some material at walmart) and combine videos and images together to superimpose yourself in a concert or even with Leo (he he)!

  • Go from flawed to phenomenal in seconds—Get just the photo fixes you’re looking for with shortcuts that reduce common, multistep editing tasks to a single click or brush stroke. Whiten teeth, create bluer skies, and improve skin tone with one-step shortcuts that let you go from flawed to phenomenal in seconds.
  • Clean your scene of unwanted elements—You took five shots of your subject, but pedestrians distract from the scene in every one. Now you can see only what you want to see in your photos—use Adobe Photomerge® Scene Cleaner to simply brush away any elements that changed positions between photos and create a single perfect composite.
  • Count on step-by-step assistance—Need to touch up a scratch or create an effect but not sure how to begin? Photoshop Elements walks you through each editing step to make it easy to get the results you want, and new Guided Edit options help you achieve both basic and artistic effects. Or apply cropping, slimming, captions, and other fixes fast using new Automated Actions.
  • Get the perfect group shot—Create amazing composites with Photomerge technology. Never let a frowning mouth or a closed pair of eyes ruin a group photo again. With Photomerge Group Shot, you can easily combine the best facial expressions and body language from a series of shots to create a single, perfect composite.
    Combine images with stunning results—Amazing Adobe Photomerge technology lets you stitch together multiple photos to create seamless panoramas and combine features from different faces for entertaining results.
  • Make unique photo creations
  • Start creating quickly, no experience necessary—Get expert assistance for making photo creations like scrapbook pages, cards, and CD/DVD labels. Simply choose the type of creation you’d like to make and the appropriate tools and instructions will appear at your fingertips.
  • Create photo books with ease and flexibility—Quickly create high-quality photo books in a creative workspace where you can see 2-page spreads, flip through your book, and rearrange pages—with drag-and-drop simplicity. When your book is finished, just click the order button to have it professionally printed, hardbound, and delivered to your door (services vary worldwide).
  • Give your creations a professional look—Quickly browse hundreds

I am not a professional at this. Some days it takes HOURS and HOURS to put together nice graphics or videos for the site, but what it never stops being is a BLAST. If you are a blogger that wants to get into VLOGGING on youtube or newbaby, or just on your site, this is a MUST HAVE program. Or if you are a designer or blogger that wants to continue to make graphics like buttons, banners, or even spruce up photos to share with your family, you need the Photoshop Elements 7.

Lucky for US and for YOU, we have a copy of BOTH to giveaway. Adobe has come out with a combo pack this year that includes both programs in one combined purchase, so one winner will walk away with BOTH  of these programs. If you don’t win, head on out and get your own. If you want your blog to take off, you need to bring some personality to it. Plus, text is boring without some life, right?

If your NOT a blogger, these programs are still so much fun to share with your family…put fairy wings on your little girl or make that vacation video with all your pictures, burn them on a DVD and create birthday and Christmas gifts instantly.

Last but not least, at photoshop.com you can instantly save and upload your videos to share or store, so you never accidentaly delete them.

  • Show off your shooting skills with inspiring ideas, tutorials, seasonal artwork, movie themes, and effects delivered regularly to your software
  • Backup your memories automatically and no scheduling required — get 20GB of storage — enough for up to 15,000 photos or four hours of DVD-quality video
  • Access your photos and videos virtually anywhere you are
  • Share photos in fun, interactive ways with invitation-only Online Albums — and you’ll get new templates delivered to your software on a regular basis

TO WIN

We always ask you to take time to visit the sponsors website, so please do that and come back. Ill wait. No, really, go visit them.

1st entry is just to tell us how you believe owning Adobe photoshop Elements 7 and Adobe Premiere Elements 7 would help you. (value $149)

If you want additional entries, you can gain one everytime you twitter out this contest to your friends during the duration of the contest

And in the christmas spirit, if you want to enter one more time on behalf of someone else, you may do that as well. Just remember, if you enter on behalf of another blogger or friend, we will be sending the product to them. So think wisely. :-)

This contest will end on Friday, December 19th. Please note that since I have the product on hand, I will NOT be shipping till after the Christmas holiday is over. So if you win, your gonna have to sit tight till after Christmas.