[tweetmeme]Neons were invented by accident over 300 years ago when a scientist shook a test tube. At the time though, their discovery was useless because they had no understanding of electricity. It took another 200 years for the concept to be rediscovered, and they called their invention ‘The New Gas’, or, as it was known in Greek, ‘Neon’.

Regardless of how many times I see this image, its realism still amazes me. Neon’s are a great way to feature a title, logo or any other text, and in this tutorial we learn how to transform a simple piece of text into an unbelievable glowing neon, complete with wall mounts and a brick wall to hold it up.

In order to complete this tutorial you will need to download the brick wall image. This is a members only download, but it is free to join.
You may also like to use the Museo typeface that I used in this tutorial. You can grab this for free on MyFonts. Just click ‘Buying Choices’ and you’ll see that Museo 300, 500 and 700 are all available for free. I used Museo 300 in this tutorial.

This tutorial was originally developed by abduzeedo, so I must give credit to them. I’ve been in contact with Fabio, the founder of abduzeedo, and we’ll be working together to bring you more photoguides video tutorials of the amazing abduzeedo tutorials in the future. Thanks again Fabio!

All questions, queries and comments are welcome down below, and feel free to share your own creations either in the comments section, or by putting them up on the PhotoGuides Flickr group.

Good luck!

[tweetmeme]If you’ve ever seen the show Heroes then you’ll no doubt remember the stunning eclipse intro. It’s only a few seconds long, but in my opinion it’s one of the best intros on television, mainly due to its simplicity and its stunning design. In this tutorial, we learn how to recreate that solar eclipse image in a slightly retro style using nothing but photoshop.

In order to complete this tutorial, there is a grunge paper file you’ll need to download, which is available for free to all Photo Guide members. Remember though, it is free to join.

This has probably been the hardest tutorial I’ve produced to date, mainly because of its length. I was very lucky not to go over 10 minutes. I think it took about 30 minutes to create the image, and then 3 nights of editing it together and recording voiceovers (I recorded around 200 voiceover tracks for this episode which I think is a new personal record). It was certainly worth it though because it produces such a stunning image.

I must give credit to Abduzeedo for this great tutorial. I’ve been in contact with Fabio, the owner of Abduzeedo, and he’s allowed me to create screen casts like this of his tutorials, so I’m looking forward to bringing you even more screen casts like this one.

That’s really all there is to mention. Good luck and feel free to share your creations in the comments below.

[tweetmeme]In photography, bokeh is one of the most incredible implementations of Aperture, as seen in this inspiring collection. The shallow depth of field causes any light in the background to blur into a floating orb.
In this tutorial, we go through how to create bokeh using Photoshop, with simply beautiful results.

Bokeh is derived from the Japanese word ‘Boke’ which means blur or haze. In the late 1990s though, when ‘boke’ photography was becoming popular, the word was changed to ‘bokeh’ to help us english speaking people say it properly.

I honestly believe this is one of the greatest tutorials on PhotoGuides to date, partly because it shows you how to create such a beautiful image, but also because it opens peoples eyes to the power of the brushes engine, and this demonstration can expand peoples abilities on Photoshop enormously.

The method I teach in this tutorial was originally developed by abduzeedo. When I was experimenting with how to create digital bokeh, I felt their tutorial showed the best way to do it, and thus decided to simply share their method in the podcast (with permission of course), so thanks for letting me share it.

As usual, the Photoshop source file and a high quality download of this tutorial is available for free to all PhotoGuides members.
You can also download the digital bokeh image from the tutorial as a wallpaper over here in the freebies section.

Good luck!

[tweetmeme]Scrapbooks are a great way to preserve a memory. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create a high resolution digital scrapbook on photoshop, including torn paper, sticky tape, handwriting and spilt ink.

This is a method I created in mid 2008 when I was designing pages for the school magazine. I had to create 5 pages for the year 12 class, featuring a selection of photos from their valedictory dinner and all of the students names. As a result, this technique can be used to create great full page spreads. The paper file is almost A3 quality, and the sticky tape and torn paper is realistic enough to be viewed in large.

There are a number of files you may need to complete this tutorial yourself. The paper file and the sticky tape file are available to members only, but you can join for free. Once you’ve logged in, the ‘Members Get More’ image above will turn into download links for these files.

You can however download the fonts and brushes via the links below:

Download the Ink Spill Brushes

Courtesy of Inobscuro.

Download the PC friendly Handwriting Fonts

Courtesy of Free Fonts.

In this tutorial I create a scrapbook themed on ‘The Simunye Project’. This is a community service experience I went on to South Africa in early 2009. If you’re interested in hearing more about The Simunye Project head over to The Simunye Project website. You might also like to have a look at Simunye 3096, a time lapse video I created about my experience.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the tutorial. I find that the little components of this tutorial can be very handy when creating other pieces on photoshop (the torn paper section in particular).

Good Luck!

I’ve heard rumors that the podcast version is a lot more excellent.

[tweetmeme]President Obama’s ‘Hope’ poster is one of the most recognisable pieces of street art of all time, and is being called a cultural phenomenon. Created by Shepard Fairey, this poster became instantly viral and played a huge part in the success of Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign. In this tutorial you’ll learn how to apply the same effect to your own photo using nothing but Photoshop.

This certainly is the most complicated tutorial I’ve produced to date, and that’s largely because this effect (as far as I’m aware) has never been replicated on only photoshop. Through my research the only tutorials I found incorporated Adobe Illustrator. As a result, I had to experiment and create my own method.

Download the original photo.

This is the original photo I’ve used in the tutorial.

Download the Obama Pattern (right click > Save as)

In order to create your own ‘Hope’ poster, you’ll need to download this pattern by right clicking the link and selecting save as. You can easily install this by simply double clicking the file. The pattern should then appear in photoshop.

Download the Nevis Font (Link)

You might also like to download the ‘Nevis’ font, which you can find over at Ten by Twenty. The original uses the font ‘Gotham’, but this is a font you have to purchase. Nevis is the closest free font I could find.

This is the ‘Hope’ poster I created in the tutorial:

Good luck!

By publishing this tutorial, PhotoGuides is in no way endorsing any political party or belief. The tutorial is simply to demonstrate the method used to create this artistic piece.

What’s this blue hyperlink? I think it’s the Podcast Version.

[tweetmeme]When Apple first released OSX, the benchmark for computer design was set to a new level. This was largely because of their Aqua theme.

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to recreate the famous Aqua wallpaper in just a few minutes using photoshop.

Once you’ve created your image you might like to fiddle with the hue, saturation and brightness of your background layer. I find that adjusting these properties (especially dragging the brightness right down) adds new dimensions to these wallpapers and allows you to create fluent and unique designs. This tutorial certainly has a lot of potential.

Here’s the version I created in the tutorial:

Good luck!

Don’t forget to check out the Podcast on iTunes.

Apple has forever been a trendsetter in design. Not only are their products timelessly elegant, but their photoshop and advertising work is simply beautiful and highly recognized. Campaigns like iPod Graffiti are worldly renowned and seen as an apple icon, and more recently, these iPhone Application Icons have been stepping forward as an Apple trademark.

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create the glass style iPhone icons and buttons. You’ll be able to choose your own colours and integrate your own logo or text into it.

Here’s the version i created in the tutorial:

Good Luck!

Let’s not forget the podcast version

Tiny Planets are amazing little things that are surprisingly easy to create. All you need is a panoramic photo, Photoshop, the most basic of understandings and a few minutes.
Here then is a guide to help you make Tiny Planets of your very own.

If the video guide is a bit too quick for your liking, there’s also a text and image step by step guide for you to follow.

Thanks again to mm_leones from flickr for letting me use his photo.
He also has plenty more panoramic images in his collection.
hegarty_david from flickr has also offered his 360 degrees panoramas to be used and most of them will work quite nicely.

There’s a Podcast version too, and it likes you.

Ever since apple started the campaign a few years ago, iPod graffiti has been immensely popular and is one of the most recognized and effective trademarks in advertising today. In this guide you’ll learn how to create your own iPod graffiti photo in a few simple steps.

Once you’ve got the basics covered you’ll be able to explore a wide range of customizations to make your photo truly unique.

There are a few resources you’ll need to try this for yourself:
The original photo, by Néstor Baltodano
or you could search Flickr for your own.
Grunge Brushes
More Grunge Brushes
Grunge Corners (very handy)

This is the photograph created in the guide:

Also, if your internet doesn’t like this Vimeo version and its high quality and size, it might get along better with the Youtube Version.

Good luck!

[tweetmeme]Make sure you click this blue bit of text for the Podcast version of this tutorial.

Tilt Shift Photography is the latest ‘big thing’ in the photo world. It uses a very shallow Depth of Field to transform a scene into a tiny toy from a tiny world. It may only be in my eyes, but lately it’s popping up all over the place and is showing some truly spectacular and eye catching results. However, Tilt Shift Photography is very difficult to create in camera. It involves a special lens and of course a lot of money to buy it. Here then is a guide for all you Photoshop owners so that you can create the incredible effect on your own photos with a few simple steps.

Here then is a video guide to creating your own Tilt Shift photos using Photoshop. Remember there’s also a text and image based guide for you to follow along to.

Also, if your internet doesn’t like this Vimeo version and it’s high quality and size, there’s a youtube version as well.