Cross-Processing ATN - Photoshop Action

Cross-processing, briefly, is a photographic technique where (usually) slide film (E6) is processed in the set of chemicals usually used to process print film (C41). (Less common is cross-processing in the other direction -- print film processed in slide film chemicals) The result is images with oddly skewed colors and increased contrast and saturation.

 

The problem we're running into now, however, is that this process depends on shooting with film. What happens if you're one of the photographers who have made the jump to digital?

Well, for those who use the digital like me, and like this technique, I created the Cross-Processing Action. I hope you enjoy it, as much as I do

 by: JennyW

Download thePhotoshop Action from here

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Best 10 Firefox Addons for Designers

These 10 essential Firefox addons will make your life as a graphic and web designer much easier! The Firefox addons are extremely easy to install and you will be notified when new versions of the addons are available. I have hand picked all of these add ons and without further ado here are the 12 best Firefox addons for graphic designers!

ColorZilla 1.0

ColorZilla is an advanced eyedropper, color picker and measuring tool.

Download ColorZilla

Window Resizer

The Window Resizer addon allows you to resize your browser to common resolution sizes allowing you to view website designs in a variety of popular browsing dimensions.

Download Window Resizer

Web Developer

The Firefox Web Developer addons is one of the most popular addons for web designers. It has a variety off essential tools that allow you to code quality websites and troubleshoot problems easily.

Download Web Developer

Palette Grabber

Palette Grabber is a nifty little addon that creates a color palette for Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP, Flash, Fireworks, or OS X based on the current page you are viewing in your browser.

Download Grabber

GridFox

GridFox is a great Firefox extension that allows you to overlay a customizable grid on any website allowing you to make sure the grid you designer in your layout translate correctly to the web.

Download GridFox

FireShot

FireShot is a cool extension that allows you to take screenshots of your web pages and also has a set of built in annotation tools that allow you to add graphics and notes.

Download FireShot

FoxyTunes

FoxyTunes is a kick butt addon for anyone who listens to music while they design. It allows you to control almost any media player from your browser. You can also find lyrics, covers and so on.

Download FoxyTunes

MeasureIt

MeasureIt allows you to overlay a ruler on a browser page so you can verify width, height and alignment of page elements.

Download MeasureIt

IE Tab

IE Tab is a useful tool for designers who need to check to see if their website looks good in Internet Explorer. A simple click will switch you back to Firefox.

Download IE Tab

FireFTP

FireFTP is a free, secure, browser based FTP client that allows you to easily access your server via Firefox instead of having to launch a separate program.

Download FireFTP

Via: youthedesigner

Free Color Manipulation tools on the web

Here are some of my favorite online tools for exploring and manipulating colors.
These are free and simple color manipulation tools which require NO installation and can be easily used off the web.

• Color Blender — Very convenient tool to blend any two colors with a varying number of midpoints

• Color Code Chooser — tool helps you manipulate colors in a number of very helpful ways.

Photography | Useful Links for all

Classic Nikon & canon camera list and complete instruction manuals
www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/htmls/knowledge_main.htm

This website is for Twin Lens Reflex Camera's
www.tlr-cameras.com/
ww.kauserinternational.com/Photography/Seagull/seagull.htm

Wikipedia for cameras
www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

website on classic cameras
www.cameraquest.com/classics.htm

IR conversion of Digital SLR
www.lifepixel.com/IR.htm

Vintage Folding Cameras
certo6.com/

Toy Camera
toycamera.com/
holgamods.com

Camera list
www.wolkerstorfer.at/cameras.html

Digital SLR sensor cleaning
www.cleaningdigitalcameras.com/

- Vinbaoy, BPS

Choosing a Good Domain Name

If you're starting a new web business, you're going to need your own domain name. Your business name will usually BE the domain name (and you probably shouldn't choose a business name without checking first to see if the domain is available for it). But there's more to choosing a good name than just finding one that's available. Here are some tips to choosing a good domain name.

1. Use a .com

While there are a number of other top-level domains (tld's) you can buy domains for, .com is the preferred extension for any business. Some browsers will autocomplete .com, so if someone enters "yourname" in the browser location bar, they'll automatically be sent to yourname.com.

.net is a good second choice, if you can't find an available .com that you like. Most other tld's are not appropriate or too difficult to say (see #3, below).

2. Shorter is Better

It's a lot easier to type (and say) shorter domain names. And if you're giving your domain name to customers, they're going to be annoyed if they have to type a really long name into their browser. It's much easier to type joeswidgets.com than joessuperwidgetfactory.com.

Try to stick with names that are 10 letters or less in length (not counting the .com extension).

3. Be sure you can say the name without having to spell it out for people.

If you meet customers in person, speak to them over the phone, go to trade shows, or otherwise ever have to tell someone your domain name, consider how easy (or difficult) it is to say the name you want to use. Do you have to spell it out for people because the name isn't spelled like it sounds? In particular, names using "ph" (instead of f) or "y" (instead of i) in the name might be problem areas. Similarly, a name like Flickr or Zoomr or any other name where "er" has been replaced with "r" will have to be spelled out, at least until it's become so popular that everyone knows how it's spelled.

Also, while you can use dashes in your domain name, you probably shouldn't, unless you're prepared to register both the dashed and un-dashed versions. (I registered both dot-o-mator.com and dotomator.com for this site.)

4. Search for your prospective name on Google.

If you want to make it easy for people to find your site, then choose a name that has few existing matches in Google... the fewer the better. That way when people search for your site, yours will come up first in the search results. Whereas if there are already 2.3 million matches for the name you want to use, it's going to be very difficult for people to find you via search.

Enter your search terms Submit search form

5. Use a distinctive name.

Your domain name should be memorable. "37 Signals" is more memorable than something like "Web Tech Systems". A popular trend among dotcom companies is to combine words (or partial words) into a new, made-up name (Flickr, YouTube, Feedburner). Start with a word that has some relevance to your company's product or service, then try adding on endings and see what comes up.

Some words (such as "web", "tech", "net", "systems", "technologies") sound a bit tired, and are likely unavailable anyway. Try choosing fresher-sounding words. Thesaurus.com is a good place to search for words that have similar meanings. You can use Dot-o-mator to combine words into a list of potential domain names, then check them all at once to see if any are still available.

6. Avoid trademarks

Try to avoid using names that include well-known trademarks. For example, if you register a domain name with "Amazon" somewhere in the name, you'll soon be receiving an email from Amazon.com's legal department asking you to surrender the name.

So save your money and choose a more unique (and trademark-free) name.

7. Should you buy an existing name?

What if the domain name you really want is taken? The cheapest solution is to choose something else. But if you have your heart set on a particular name, you can try buying it from the current owner. There's no guarantee you'll be able to acquire the domain, and even if the owner is willing to sell, it could cost you anywhere from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars.

If you still want to try, here's how to proceed. First visit the domain name in your browser and see if anything is there. If the owner is looking to sell the domain, it might already have a link to where you can make an offer.

There are also sites like Sedo.com that offer domain names for sale. You can browse through their inventory of existing names, or make an offer on any domain:

Search the largest database for used domain names

You can also view the whois results for an existing domain. Look for the owner's email address, and try contacting them directly.

8. Keeping your name

Once you've found a domain name, you'll have to register it with a domain registrar of your choice. (I prefer Dotster, as they're reasonably priced and have good customer service.) Be sure to provide a valid e-mail address when you register the domain; your registrar will e-mail you when your domain is about to expire and remind you to renew. If you're using a spam filter, be sure to allow mail from your registrar to pass through. If you change e-mail addresses, be sure to update it with your registrar as well. I've seen plenty of cases where someone moved and never got the renewal reminder mail, so their domain expired. Renewing an expired domain is costly (there's a $99 fee for that now).

If your domain expires and you don't notice it until a month or two later, your domain might already be owned by someone else. (Expired domains go back into the pool of available domain names after a ~40 day redemption period). Reacquiring your domain at that point could be extremely expensive, if not impossible... so remember to keep your domain registrations (and contact information) current.

9. Domain Spam and Private Registrations

Unfortunately, when you register a domain, your e-mail address will be visible to the world via the whois data. This can result in a lot of unwanted spam. Most domain registrars offer something called "whois privacy" or "private registrations" (usually for a small additional fee); this service will obscure your e-mail address in whois results, but still keep your e-mail linked to your domain in your registrar's database (so they can still send you renewal reminders). If you're concerned about spam and/or don't have a good spam filter, you may want to use the privacy option.

- dotomator.com

99 Useful Resources for Graphic Designers

I have used every one of these resources as a graphic designer and website developer and have hand picked all of these resources based on their usefulness and overall quality. I hope you find these resources as useful as I do! Enjoy!

Organizations

1. www.gag.org
The Graphic Artists Guild promotes and protects its members and is committed to improving conditions for all graphic designers and the whole industry. They also produce the well known Graphic Artists Guild Handbook which is an essential part of any designers library.

2. www.aiga.org
AIGA, the professional association for design is dedicated to protecting and advancing design and its importance to society. AIGA now represents more than 19,000 designers through national activities and local programs developed by more than 55 chapters and 200 student groups.

Design Tournaments

3. www.cutandpaste.com
Cut&Paste is a world wide live digital design tournament that goes on every year in multiple locations award prizes to the worlds best anonymous designers.

Generally Useful

4. www.lipsum.com
This is a pretty famous site within the design community; you can generate dummy text on this site to put into your designs until the real copy is available.

5. www.alexa.com
Alexa is a traffic ranking site that is widely used to research other sites. It’s not the most accurate tool but it has become common place and your Alexa rank is often a variable when determining advertising costs or site popularity.

6. www.csstype.com
An incredibly useful site that shows you exactly how web fonts will look on your screen.

7. www.brandsoftheworld.com
This is the ultimate branding library with thousands of the worlds most famous and popular logos. Great for researching corporate identity.

8. www.blogsearch.google.com
An easy way to weed out site and just find blog on the topics you are interested in.

9. www.digg.com
Digg.com is a great place for offbeat news and can be in indispensable weapon in your arsenal of traffic getting tools. You can submit well written articles to dig and if it is dugg a lot and becomes popular it can bring in a substantial amount of traffic to your website for free.

10. www.bloglines.com
Bloglines is a great way to organize all the blogs you read into one place instead of having to visit a bunch of different websites and is a good time saver.

11. www.mozilla.com/en-US/
Arguably the best web browser out right now. I use it for most of my web browsing but don’t forget the other browsers when it comes to optimizing your website. Not everyone uses the same browser.

12. www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
This is my favorite email client to use. It’s simple, efficient, and easy to use with solid email alert features. Very handy if you get important emails often.

13. www.adobe.com
Home to the well known design software we all know and love. Good site to check out once in a while for updates and help regarding software such as Photoshop and illustrator.

Networking & Freelance Work

14. www.craigslist.org
Craigslist is one of my favorite forums to use. There are tons of new design jobs and gigs added every day but the competition is stiff so bring your “A” Game.

15. www.getafreelancer.com
If you are looking for an affordable but professional coder this is the place to go. Freelancers bid on projects you post.

16. www.facebook.com
Facebook is growing incredibly fast and is a great way to network with other people and advertising your design services. Many professionals are moving to facebook over other social networking sites.

17. www.myspace.com
Myspace has tons of potential when it comes to snagging freelance gigs or networking. They have a decently active classifieds section that you can use to market your work.

18. www.linkedin.com
Linkedin is a very popular site for professionals and is a valuable networking tool.

19. www.krop.com
Krop.com has a database of jobs for designers, artists, and developers with an instant and easy to use search feature.

20. www.coroflot.com
Corofloat.com is a site where you can promote and host your design portfolio, search for jobs and post to hire some one.

Stock Photography

21. www.istockphoto.com
This stock photography site has incredible photographers and even better prices for illustrations and photos. It will make your life way easier as a designer and has many other benefits such as making money selling your illustrations and photography, networking with other design professionals, promoting your portfolio site, access to active forums and much more!

22. www.corbis.com
Corbis is one of the leading stock photography sites with millions of images online, featuring historical, fine art, business, technology, celebrity, travel, sports and nature photography.

23. www.shutterstock.com
Shutter Shock is a subscription based stock photography site with over two million royalty-free stock photos available.

24. www.bigstockphoto.com
Big Stock Photo lets you upload and download low-cost digital stock photography. They have well over a million photos organized into categories.

25. www.gettyimages.com
Getty Images offers a large searchable collection of rights-managed or royalty-free images and films. Getty Images is a great site if you are looking for current event and public figure related photography.

Color & Charts

26. kuler.adobe.com
Kuler is a useful site to go to find color themes for your projects. Users can submit their own themes to be rated and you can search for many type of color themes.

27. www.colourlovers.com
Colour Lovers is a great site with user submitted color palettes and even cooler is their blog that creates color palettes based on each blog posts at the end of every post.

28. www.logoorange.com

Nice chart that converts PMS colors to CMYK and RGB color codes for you.

29. www.ideo.com
This extremely useful but simple web safe color chart lets you easily see exactly how different colors will look on your screen.

Inspirational Sites

30. www.cssbeauty.com
CSS Beauty provides its users with a database of well designed CSS designed sites, as well as news and happenings related to the CSS Community.

31. www.thecoolhunter.net
The cool hunter looks for the coolest and craziest stuff from around the world. Be sure to check out the design and art sections on the site.

32. www.logopond.com
The Logo Pond is a great site to go to if you are looking for inspiration while designing a logo. You can even submit your own logo designs to be voted on and reviewed. Good way to get exposure for your studio or freelancing portfolio.

33. www.go2web20.net
The Web 2.0 Design style is the big thing right now and many websites are redesigning their look to get with the times. This awesome site has a massive collection of all the new web 2.0 logos and links the websites.

34. www.cssvault.com
CSS Vault has a collection of spectacular CSS websites and resources including: Articles, Demos, Layouts, Tutorials, and more.

35. www.stumbleupon.com
After selecting topics of interest you can stumble upon quality sites related to those topics. I have found countless amazing sites doing this and not only is it great for finding new sites but it can be a killer way to promote and drive traffic to your own portfolio site or blog.

Portfolio Sites

36. www.altpick.com
Altpic.com is a great portfolio website for artists and designers where many people come searching for the best oif the best. It is a great place to showcase your designs and talent.

37. www.portfolios.com
Portfolios.com is a portfolio search site where viewers can easily browse through thousands of free artist and designer portfolios.

38. www.deviantart.com
DeviantART is a large community of artists and designers who share their work with each other via an online portfolio. Many digital artists and illustrator flock to this site and you can even buy prints of your favorite artwork.

Design Magazines

39. www.printmag.com
PRINT magazine is a very famous bimonthly magazine about visual culture and design.

40. www.howdesign.com
HOW Magazine covers many areas of design such as the business aspect, new technologies, up and coming designers and is a place for creative inspiration.

41. www.idonline.com
I.D. magazine is an International design magazine that covers products, graphics, environments, interactive media and other design related areas.

42. www.computerarts.co.uk
Computer Arts is an informative site with free downloads, tutorials, galleries, competitions, a published magazine and much more.

43. www.maclife.com
MacLife.com provides news and analysis of the popular Apple products and also has daily blogs from Mac Life magazine editors and a nice selection of articles to read.

44. www.pcmag.com
This magazine is definitely handy for any designer. The hardware we use is the back bone of most of our work and PC Magazine has solid reviews of the leading equipment. I always look up products on their website before I buy anything.

45. www.pcworld.com
PC World is a great place for Computer and Internet news and information, Resources, how-tos, downloads, products and more.

Fonts

46. www.dafont.com
Dafont is an easy to use free font site with a large collection of fonts to download it. It has been around a while and is updated often with new fonts.

47. www.urbanfonts.com
Urban Fonts is new to the font world but has quickly established itself as a leader in the free font community. It has an excellent design and is right up there with dafont.com in my book.

48. www.fontshop.com
Font Shop offers great font collections on CD, free fonts, downloadable fonts, typography tips and more.

49. www.linotype.com
Linotype has a massive collection of the most popular and well known fonts available for download. They also have a font lounge with many interesting font related resources.

Tutorials

50. www.pixel2life.com
Pixel2life is one of the largest tutorial search engines on the internet providing great tutorials to graphic designers and programmers.

51. www.good-tutorials.com
Good Tutorials is a massive tutorial website with tens of thousands of tutorials for Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator, and more.

52. www.w3schools.com
If you need to brush up on your coding skills then this is the place to go. The information is accurate and up to date and its def worth taking all the tutorials.

53. www.tutorialoutpost.com
Tutorial Outpost has a vast collection of thousands of tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, 3D Studio Max, and more!

Photoshop Brushes

54. www.brusheezy.com
Brusheezy is a very useful site with lots of great sets of free brushes varying in style.

55. www.psbrushes.net
PS Brushes is home to over 500 Photoshop brushes that are all free to download and categorized for easy searching.

56. www.getbrushes.com
Get Brushes has sets of Photoshop brushes made up of various swirls, ornamental designs, and flourishes. flowers, dots, circles, and various other ornamentations.

Printers

57. www.4over4.com
4over4 is a good balance between quality and affordability and can handle most of the print jobs you would require.

58. www.modernpostcard.com
Modern postcard is known for its quality printing but can be a bit pricey compared to other sites. If you are looking for top notch printing though look no further.

59. www.vistaprint.com
Vista Print provides custom full color printing services. You can print business cards, Christmas cards, stationery, postcards, magnets, brochures, address labels, and even more.

60. www.clubflyers.com
Club Flyers is an easy to use online printing service with many options available and fast shipping times.

61. www.alocalprinter.com
If you are looking for a way to help the environment as a graphic designer then check out the new age of eco friendly printing.

Blog Hosts

62. www.wordpress.com
Wordpress is my blog host of choice. It’s free and easy to set up on a server and there are tons of great themes and widgets available to use. I use Wordpress for all my blogs.

63. www.blogger.com
Blogger is another very popular blog host. It has many of the same features Wordpress offers.

64. www.twitter.com
Twitter is a surprisingly fun, easy to use and useful site when it comes to letting people know what you are up too.

65. www.squidoo.com
Squidoo is an easy way to put up a quick and free website page about any topic you want. It is very popular in the affiliate marketing industry.

66. www.tumblr.com
Tumblr is another super easy blogging tool that is very similar to Squidoo and twitter and just as good as both of them.

Blogs

67. www.designobserver.com
Design Observer is a well respected site in the design community that features writings related to all aspects of design and culture.

68. www.lifehack.org
This great site is dedicated to hacking your life by providing you with tips and tricks to get things done quickly by automating, organizing and increasing your productivity.

69. www.ilovetypography.com
I Love Typography is a great web site devoted to typography, type, fonts and typefaces of all kinds. If you love typography you will enjoy this site.

Web Hosting

70. www.hostgator.com
Host Gator is a well known, reliable and affordable web hosting company. They have a wide range of hosting services to take care of all your websites bandwidth needs.

71. www.godaddy.com
Go Daddy is one of the biggest and most affordable web hosting and domain registration services. They have excellent customer service and quality servers. It is also very easy to mange you domain names and this is important if you have a lot of them.

Web Design Forums

72. forums.digitalpoint.com

This is one of the biggest and most popular programming forums around; there are many thread topics raging from coding and servers to search engine optimization and graphic design. It’s a great place to ask questions, find help or promote your services.

73. www.webmasterworld.com
This is a very active and informative forum on the world of web design. It is a great place to learn and have questions answered.

Graphic Design Forums

74. www.graphicdesignforum.com
This is a discussion forum dedicated to all topics related to graphic design.

75. www.graphic-design-forum.com
This is another active design forum that allows you to chat about graphic design and post designs for a review.

76. www.steeldolphin-forums.com
This is a fine art and graphic design forum where many users showcase their work and discuss fine art and graphic design with fellow community members.

Keyword Research

77. www.freekeywords.wordtracker.com
This is an extremely important free tool for keyword research. If you don’t use this tool before you launch a site or blog then your missing out. They also have a more extensive paid version.

78. www.wordze.com
This is another powerful keyword research tool.

79. www.google.com/trends
Google Trends is another good way to research keywords. Some keywords tend to be seasonal so you can check to see if certain keywords tend to fluctuate traffic wise at certain times of the year.

Search Engine Optimization

80. www.seomoz.org
SEOmoz serves as a central hub for search engine marketers worldwide, providing education, tools, resources and paid services related to search engine optimization and marketing.

81. www.thirtydaychallenge.com
This is probably one of the most informative sites I have ever come across in terms of search engine optimization. It literally changed my life.

82. www.seroundtable.com
SEO Roundtable reports on interesting threads taking place at the SEM (Search Engine Marketing) forums. They also write many articles on the topic of search engine optimization and marketing.

Advertising

83. www.google.com/adsense
Google Adsense is a powerhouse in the advertising industry. If you are looking for an easy way to monetize our website or blog then you will definitely want to check this site out.

84. www.adbrite.com
Adbrite is a popular and easy to use text link advertising website where you can buy text link spots or make money by selling advertisement space on your site.

85. www.adengage.com
A place to buy and sell text link ads on popular websites related to your website or blog.

86. www.text-link-ads.com
This is another very popular and easy to use text link advertising site where people can easily purchase advertising space on your blog or website.

Computers & Electronics

87. www.apple.com
Apple computers are a standard in the design industry and they are a great choice if you are looking for an alternative to personal computers.

88. www.newegg.com
I love checking new egg for products because of their fair prices and customer reviews.

89. www.tigerdirect.com
Another great site if you are shopping for anything electronic. They have affordable prices and a wide selection of products to choose from.

90. www.amazon.com
Amazon is fast and reliable and is my favorite online store to buy books from. Delivery is always top notch.

Art Supplies

91. www.dickblick.com
Dick Blick Art Materials has been providing artists with the best supplies since 1911. They have a huge selection of merchandise and good prices.

92. www.pearlpaint.com
Pearl Paint is one of the world’s largest discount art suppliers and has a vast selection of art supplies at very affordable prices.

93. www.aifriedman.com
A.I. Friedman is another great business that has been serving the artist community for over 70 years. Their products range from basic art supplies to studio equipment and furniture.

Graphic and Web Design Books

94. How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
By Adrian Shaughnessy

95. Thinking with Type
By Ellen Lupton

96. About Face: Reviving The Rules Of Typography
By David Jury

97. Graphic Artists Guild Handbook
By Graphic Artists Guild

98. HTML, XHTML, and CSS, Sixth Edition
By Elizabeth Castro

99. Bulletproof Web Design
By Dan Cederholm

- youthedesigner

Photoshop Secret Shortcuts

It is proven that by using software shortcuts can boost up productivity. Here are 30 secret Photoshop shortcuts that I’ve learned from years of experience. Well, what I mean by "secret" is that these shortcuts are not documented in the menus. Keep reading and you will find how these shortcuts can speed up your productivity. I bet you don’t know all of them.

Note: this article is written in Mac Photoshop format. If you are using PC, Cmd = Ctrl and Opt = Alt.

1. Drag selection
   With the Marquee tool, drag on the document (do not release the mouse yet), now hold down Spacebar, it will let you drag the undefined selection.

   

2. Navigate the document left or right
   Hold down the Cmd key and scroll up or down allows you to navigate the document left or right. For example, hold down Cmd + scroll up will navigate to right.

   

3. Browse the font list
   Put your cursor in the font list dropdown, you can browse the font list by pressing arrow Up or Down key.

   

4. Scale font size
   Select the text that you want to scale the font size, press Cmd + Shift + > or <>

   

5. Zoom with the scroll wheel
   You can zoom in / out by Cmd + Opt + scroll up or down.

   

6. Drag to adjust numberic value
   Mouseover the input box, hold down Cmd + drag left or right to increase / decrease. Hold down Cmd + Opt or Shift key and drag can change the value in decimal or 10 interval. This shortcut works in all dialog palettes.

   

7. Scroll to adjust numeric value
   Put the cursor in the input box, scroll up or down to increase / decrease value. This shortcut works in all dialog palettes.

   

8. Arrow up / down to adjust numeric value
   Put the cursor in the input box, press arrow Up or Down to increase / decrease. Hold down Shift and press arrow Up or Down will change value in 10 interval.

   

9. Zoom to 100%
   Double click on the Zoom tool will zoom document to 100%.

   

10. Collapse or expand all layer groups
    You can collapse or expand all root-level layer groups by holding down Cmd + click on the triangle icon. Hold down Cmd + Opt + click on the triangle icon will collapse or expand all level layer groups.

    

11. Show / hide in a row
    If you need to show / hide more than one layers, instead of clicking one by one, you can click on the visibility icon and drag in a row.

    

12. Hide other layers
    Hold down Opt + click on the visibility icon will hide all other layers.

    

13. Navigate layer blending mode
    Opt + Shift + "-" or "+" key allows you to navigate through the blending mode dropdown.

    

14. Set specific blending mode
    Opt + Shift + C, N, M, S, D… allows to set layer to specific blending mode.
    For examples:
    Normal = Opt + Shift + N
    Screen = Opt + Shift + S
    Multiply = Opt + Shift + M
    Color = Opt + Shift + C

    

15. Lock layer transparency
    Press forward slash ("/") to lock layer transparency.

    

16. Load Channel selection
    You probably know that Cmd + number keys (1, 2, 3) will activate the channels in sequent. Press Cmd + Opt + number keys will load the selection. For example, press Cmd + Opt + 4 will load Alpha channel 1.

    

17. Tool panels
    Press Tab to toggle tool panels.

    

18. Precise cursor
    Caps lock will display tool cursor in precise mode.

    

19. Navigate the tool list
    You can navigate through the tool list by pressing Shift + tool shorcut. For example: B = Brush tool, if you press Shift + B again, you will switch to Pencil tool.

    

20. Increase / decrease brush size
    With the Brush tool selected, you can increase / decrease the brush size by pressing [ or ] key (square bracket key). Press Shift + [ or ] will increase / decrease brush hardness.

    

21. Opacity
    You can set the layer opacity by pressing the number keys (ie. 1 = 10%, 2 = 20%…). When you have the brush tool selected, pressing the number keys will adjust the brush opacity.

    

22. Duplicate layer
    There are several shortcuts to duplicate layers.
    1. You can hold down Cmd + Opt + drag to duplicate the active layer.
    2. Cmd + Opt + arrow keys (Up, Down, Left, Right).
    3. Cmd + J will duplicate the active layer in exact position.
    4. Hold down Opt + drag within the Layers palette can also duplicate layers.

    

23. Copy visible and paste in a new layer
    Press Cmd + Opt + Shift + E will copy the visible layers and paste in a new layer.

    

24. Change workspace background
    By default Photoshop use grey for the workspace background color. You can change that by:
    1. select your favorite color
    2. choose the Paint Bucket tool
    3. Hold down Shift + click on the working area (outside the document area)

    

    Update: right-click on the workspace area to get a dropdown menu - allows you to set the background to black, grey, or a custom color (commented by Todd Patrick).

25. Fill background or foreground color
    Opt + Delete (Backspace) = fill the layer with foreground color.
    Cmd + Delete (Backspace) = fill the layer with background color

    

    Update:
    Cmd + Shift + Delete (Backspace) = Fill non-transparent pixels with background color
    Opt + Shift + Delete (Backspace) = Fill non-transparent pixels with foreground color
    (commented by André Dion)

26. Switch between document windows
    Ctrl + Tab will switch between document windows.

    

27. Load layer transparent
    Cmd + click on the layer thumbnail will load its transparency.

    

28. Scale proportionally from center
    When you are using the Marquee tools or Free Transform, hold down Opt + Shift + drag will scale proportionally from the center.

    

29. Shortcut to Eyedropper
    If you have the Brush tool selected, hold down Opt key will quickly activate the Eyedropper tool. Hold down Opt + Shift will activate the Color Sampler Tool.

    

30. Finally…
    Finally, if you want to check or set your own custom shortcuts, press Cmd + Opt + Shift + K will bring up the Keyboard Shortcuts panel.

    

Additional from the comments

• In some dialog boxes, holding the Opt key will turn the “Cancel” button into a most useful “Reset”. (by Miguel Tavares)
• To stroke a path, first select the path, then change to the brush tool, select a brush, and type Enter or Return. This works with all of the brush-like tools (eraser, clone, blur, etc.). (by buddhistMonkey)
• To turn a path into a selection, type Command-Enter or Command-Return (doesn’t matter what tool is selected). If there is already a selection, then Command-Shift-Return will add your path’s shape to the selection, Command-Option-Return will subtract it, and Command-Option-Shift-Return will select the intersection. (by buddhistMonkey)
• If you are adding a “Drop Shadow” layer effect, and you have the Layer Style dialog open to the Drop Shadow settings, you can move the shadow around by clicking and dragging in the image. This also works with the “Inner Shadow” effect. If you hold down the Option key, you can also adjust the Gradient Overlay, Pattern Overlay, and Satin effects by clicking and dragging. (by buddhistMonkey)

Do you know more shortcuts?

Do you know more Photoshop shortcuts that are not listed in this article? Please post them in the comment form. Make sure they are "secret" (not documented in the Photoshop menus).

Via: webdesignerwall


More: I’ve got some good ones. These are TOP SECRET so don’t tell anyone….

• CTRL + “]” or “[” - moves layers up and down through layer list
• ALT + “]” or “[” - selects layers up and down through layer list

• ALT + Click on a Guide to rotate it 90%, or while dragging a Guide from the Ruler-Bar hold down the ALT.

• PC users can right-click on the top of the window of a photo for some image related options such as “image size” and “duplicate image” ect…

For options that don’t have a Shortcut Key, rather than customizing my own shortcuts I find the following technique to be very useful:

• Using the ALT > letter > letter. For example: Hitting ALT > E > S will stroke the selection/layer. Hitting ALT > I > M > G will convert an image to greyscale. Do not hold down the keys, just press once.

Try going through and choosing tool by tool and hitting the ENTER key. You will find many time-saving features…

• ALT + CLICK on a tool on the left, to navigate through the other tools. For example: ALT + CLICK on the Brush tool will give you the Pencil tool.

• Use the Brush tool while playing with the Shift key…

• ALT + Click on the “New layer” button will create a new layer underneath the current layer.

• Right-Click on the eye beside the layer on the layer palette to change the color.

• CTRL + SHIFT + D will load the last selection used.

• Double-click on a text layer in the layer palette to edit its content.

• While typing in a text box, CTRL + ENTER will commit and close the text box.

• To open an Adjustment Window that has the previous setting use CTRL + ALT + letter. For example CTRL + ALT + U for a Hue Saturation window with the last-used Hue Saturation settings.

• CTR + SHIFT + Z to go forward in history states (like CTR + ALT + Z but the other way)

• CTRL + ALT + SHIFT to create a new layer.

After you know this one your life will never be the same:

Make a symbol, transform it. Now hit:

• SHIFT + CTRL + T to repeat the transform, or even better:

• SHIFT + CTRL + ALT + T to repeat and duplicate the transform.

• CTRL + ALT + T will duplicate and transform the layer.

Can create a clipping mask by pressing the option button (alt) just beetwen 2 layers.

• ALT + CTRL + M brings up the curves dialog box and brings back the last curve you applied

• Ctrl + Y - shows how the document will look in CMYK, and you need not to change the document into CMYK, work in RBG and convert it in the end (not to get into a problem - with colors, that looked great first in RGB!)

• switch the frontal and background color just with the “x”

• Merge all layers: APPLE + SHIFT + E

• Merge the active layer with the next one: APPLE + E

• Save for the internet: APPLE + ALT + SHIFT + S

Over 320 mini pixel icons! All Free!

File Type Icons

Web Design Icons

Web Blog & CMS Icons

User Icons

E-commerce Icons

Go to: ndesign-studio.com resources page.

or download it below

Mini Pixel Icons

Zip package contains over 320 mini icons (14 x 14px)

How to Design - Mini Icons

Numbers of people have asked me how to design my popular Mini Pixel Icon pack. In fact, they are relatively easy. All you need is just some basic Photoshop skills. Here I will show you how to use the Pencil tool to design pixel icons, and then re-use them to create a full collection. This is the technique that I used to create over 320 icons within a day.

1. Create a new document

In Photoshop, create a new document 14 x 14px size with transparent background.

2. Draw shape outline

Use the Pencil tool, select 1px brush from the palette. Pick a dark gray color and start drawing the outline of the page icon. To draw a straight line, first click at the starting point, then hold down shift key and click at the ending point.

Tips: At any time if you want to erase the pixels, use the Eraser tool, select Pencil mode and 1px brush size.

3. Base gradient

Make a selection of the empty cutout by the Magic Wand tool. Create a new layer. Set your foreground color to light gray and background to white. Use Gradient tool, drag from top corner to lower corner diagonally.

4. Highlight and shadow

Create a new layer. Draw a 1px white inner top border to create the highlight effect. Then, draw a medium gray inner bottom border.

5. Group all layers

In the Layers palette, select all layers and press Cmd+G to group all layers in a folder.

6. Draw a pencil

Again, start drawing the outline first and then fill the inner area with either solid color or gradient. When you are done, group these layers in a separate folder.

Tips: If you want to have consistent color throughout the icon set, store the colors that you have used in the color swatches.

7. Re-use them

Here shows how I re-used the layer groups to create entire collection:

8. Export for web

After you’ve done entire set, toggle (invisible / visible) the layer groups and save them for web (Cmd+Alt+Shift+S).

Via: webdesignerwall

Icons, Brushes

Below you’ll find some Icons and Brushes - resources.

• Random Free Vectors - Part 6: Foliage | BittBox
  Bittbox extends its collection of free vector graphics with some floral motives (flowers and leaves). The templates have been created with Adobe Illustrator and can be downloaded in formats AI, EPS and SVG.
• Iconfinder - Icon search engine
  Search Engine for icons released under the Creative Commons license, GPL oder LGPL-License.
• IconDrawer
  The page offers Icon Sets for free download.

• The Brushes - May 2006-2007
  A collection of Brushes for Adobe Photoshop.

Via: smashingmag.

BLUE VERTIGO

Fonts | Stock Photography | Vector Clip-Art | Logotypes | Photoshop Brushes | Icons | 3D Poser Downloads | Color Tools | Text Generators | Patterns | Sounds | Design Contests

BLUE VERTIGO is a resources aiding tool for worldwide designers, offering useful links, easy and fast access, all this in a single site. In order to find out the best links on the top, the links list is arranged by quantity/quality order and not by alphabetical order.