[tweetmeme]In my first tutorial on Photoshopping sparkling gold text, I used only layer styles to make the text look gold. I promised to churn out another tutorial on the same effect, but twice as realistic and awesome. So here we are. Without further ado let’s get to work.

Step 1

I started with a document of 750 x 500 pixel RGB document with a resolution of 150 px and a white background.

Step 2

I created some text using the font ‘Times New Roman’ at the size of 100 points. The color of the text does not matter.

Step 3

Click on the text layer thumbnail to make a selection of the text area.
When you have ‘running ants’ selection around your text area, turn off the text layer visibility by clicking off the eye icon next to the layer.
Make a new layer on top of the text layer.
Now let’s fill the selection by using a gradient. I am going to use the Gold gradient that I created in my previous gold text tutorial. Since all the relevant details are explained in that tutorial, I’m not going to delve on creating the gradient.

Now we fill the selected text area with the gold gradient we have. Click on the gradient tool and select the gold gradient. Also don’t forget to check that you’re using the Linear gradient and not anything else.
Now place the Gradient tool crosshair on top of the canvas and drag to the bottom of the canvas while pressing the Shift key. Since we had a selection of the text area on, the gradient will fill only the selection.

Step 4

Now comes the fun part. What we’ll be using is the Channels!
Since you did not deselect, the selection will be still active.
Go to the Channels palette. As we’re working on an RGB document, you will have four layer like things on the Channels palette, all which are selected. (I won’t go explaining about the channels or there workings today. But I’m planning to come up with a tutorial on channels in future).

Channels Palette… Yikes

With the selection active, press the ‘Save selection as channel’ button. Once you do that, you will see a new channel at the bottom of the channels stack. This will be automatically named as Alpha 1.

If you click on the Alpha 1 channel, visibility of the other channels will be turned off, leaving you with white text on a black background.

Step 5

Since your selection is active, you will see the running ants. Without deselecting, go to Edit » Stroke. Make a stroke of 3 px with the colour as Gray. Select the location as Inside. Leave the rest of the settings as they are and hit OK. Now you will have something like this.

Step 6

With your selection active, go to Filter » Blur » Gaussian blur. Type a radius of 4.0 pixels and hit OK.
Next press Ctrl + D to deselect and apply a Gaussian blur again, this time with a radius of 1 pixel. Now the text will look blurred.

Click on the RGB channel and the Alpha 1 channel visibility will be turned off automatically. As you can see nothing has changed. You may even wonder why go through the trouble of creating an extra channel. More fun is yet to come!

Step 7

Go back to Layers panel and click on the top most layer on the layer stack to ensure that you are back on the RGB channel. Now go to Filter » Render » Lighting Effects. Now you’ll be presented with a dialog box with numerous controls.

Adjust the controls according to the above diagram. You will see why we created the new channel here. Select the Alpha 1 as the Texture Channel and press OK. Now you will see that we have a very realistic looking gold text. Doesn’t that look amazing?

You can position the spot light to suit your taste by dragging the center point. By adjusting the four handles around the spotlight, you can adjust how the light falls on the text. You can also place multiple spotlights. As I always say experiment and see what appeals to your eye.

Step 8

Since everything is completed, you can stop here. Or you can some add more effects for a juicier look. Since I chose to do more for your benefit, let’s go to the original text layer, make it visible and apply some layer effects. I’m not going to delve long on this and provide you with screen shots since it will make this tut loooooong. But I will tell you what I applied.
Drop shadow : with default settings
Outer Glow : Blend mode – Hard light, Opacity – 16%, Color of the glow – F0CC4E, Spread – 7%, Size – 70 px, Range – 100%
Stroke : Size – 1 px, Position – Outside, Color – Black, Opacity – 14%

The reason that we’re not applying this effect to the Original gold text is that, with the Lighting effects applied, it may have unexpected and ugly effects. Therefore, to be on the safe side, apply the effects to the text layer.
Note: If you have gone through my previous tuts, you may have noted that I always apply a small stroke around the text. This small stroke can make a huge difference by making the object of focus to stand out from the back ground. You can compare the images on step 7 and step 8 to discern my point.

Step 9

Fill your background with an appropriate color to make the text stand out. I used a dark green with a hint of grey in a circular gradient and added some noise to it for texture. And here’s what we have. A very realistic looking gold text with an eerie glow!

Compared to the previous method, you will see that the gold finish created by this method is more realistic. There are amazing things you can do with Channels. With proper manipulation, you can create realistic silver, chrome, bronze and many more effects. The key to success is experimenting. With that, the possibilities are endless.

I hope this tutorial helped you to learn something new. I will come up with another tutorial, which I am yet to decide on. As always, your comments are very welcome as they keep me motivated. Until next time, Ciao!

[tweetmeme]Gold, one of the most sought after metals in the world, is used in coins and jewelry, as a store of value, electronics, medicinal purposes and in many other possible ways you can think of. Entire civilizations have been wiped out because of the greed for gold. Even today many people fight to own this precious metal.

But since we’re talking about phostoshopping gold text, I’d stop my rambling and let’s get some work done.

Step 1

Create a new file with the required dimensions. I used 750 x 536 px file with a resolution of 150. And of course it is RGB.

The new file

Step 2

Let’s create some text. I typed ‘GOLDEN’ using Times New Roman font. The size used here is 75 points. Again don’t worry about the color that you use, since we’re gonna replace it with a gradient overlay.

Step 3

Now the fun part begins. Let’s apply some layer styles. I applied a drop shadow.

After adding the drop shadow

Step 4

Next effect in the line is the Bevel & emboss effect. Increase the Depth field to 150%, Size to 20px and Soften to 2px. Use an angle of 50 degrees and at an Altitude of 0. The Gloss contour must be changed to ‘Half Round’ and turn on Anti alias. I kept the Highlight mode as it is, which is Screen. But I changed the color to Metallic gold (D4AF37) and bumped the opacity to 90%.

After adding the BnE style

Step 5

Next comes a bit of a tricky part, creating the gold gradient. Go to the Gradient overlay options and click on the gradient to edit it.

I used the following colors respectively. Gold (FFD700), Old gold (CFB53B), sunglow (FFCC33), golden poppy (FCC200) and golden yellow (FFDF00).

Applying the gradient...

You can arrange the color stops according to your desire. When you’re done with crating the gradient, it is a good idea to save it for future use as it saves the hassle of creating it from the scratch. You can see that I have changed the angle of the gradient slightly, to 85 degrees instead of the default 90. I won’t go explaining as to why I did it, it just appealed to my eye than the default.

Note: There are more gold related colors you can use on the gradient. But I used only a few. If you’re interested you can use the following colors as well. As I say always, experiment and see what appeals to your eye.

Metallic gold – D4AF37,  satin sheen gold – CBA135, Vegas gold – C5B358, golden brown – 996515.

Step 6

Then I applied a single pixel stroke with golden brown. I changed the position to Centre.

Single pixel Golden brown stroke...

Almost gold...

Step 7

Now the work with text is done. But since the text doesn’t standout on a white background, I applied a nice background. I created a new layer and filled it with Royal Purple (6B3FA0). Now the text we crated stands out nicely.

But since I felt that applying a plain colored background is not enough, I used a rarely used filter in Photoshop on a new layer filled with white. I changed the layer name to ‘BG Texture’. Change the foreground to white and background to black. Go to Filter > Texture > Texturizer. You’ll be presented with a huge dialogue box.

Filter > Texture > Texturizer

Now if you get an error message at this point, it’s because the BG Texture layer is empty. For Texturizer to take effect, the layer must have some pixels on it. Fill it with white.

TIP: To fill a layer there are few commands you can use. One is the Edit > Fill or Shift + F5. From the Fill dialog box, you can chose from a wide variety of commands. But if you need to fill the layer or selection with the foreground color, simply press Alt + Del and to fill with the background color press Ctrl + Del or Ctrl + Backspace.

I changed the Texture to Sandstone, Scaling to 111% and Relief to 15%. Now you’ll be presented with something like this.

Where did the purple background go???? ;(

Now change the layer blend mode to ‘Multiply’. If you think the texture is too  strong, try changing the Fill an Opacity values. Here’s what I got.

Change blend mode to "Multiply" & play with Opacity & Fill... You get a textured background...

Step 8

Again this step is not needed. But I thought of letting you know something new. But some of you might already know this. What would you do if you need to apply the same layer styles, with same values, what would you do. Earlier what I used to do is that. But there is something much simpler. Copy the layer styles and paste them on to the required layer! Here’s how we do it.

I typed the word LETTERS below our GOLDEN text, using 12 point, Times New Roman and I increased the tracking value to 750 (you can locate the tracking value below the leading values on Character palette). You can see as we increase the tracking value, the space between letters begin to expand.

Leading & Tracking on Type Palette

Now we are going to copy and paste the layer styles. Right click on the GOLDEN text layer. At the bottom of the pop-up menu, you’ll find three commands, Copy Layer style, Paste layer style and Clear layer style. Chose the first, Copy layer style. Go to the LETTERS text layer, right click and select Paste layer style. There you are! The layer style is copied as it is to the layer.

Layer Style copied...

But you’ll see instead of the gold color, there is a red/ brown tinge to the text. The reason for this is that the golden brown pixel we applied to the previous text layer. I turned off the stroke option for this text layer, by turning off the “eye” icon next to the Stroke layer style, on the layer palette.

Turn off the Stroke layer style for Letters text layer...

Step 9

If you like a to add a bit of a sparkle to the letters follow these steps. Create a new layer on top of the layer stack and name it sparkle. Select the Brush tool (you can press ‘B’ on the keyboard to activate it) and activate the ‘Assorted Brushes’ library (don’t worry about the availability of this brush set since it comes with the Photoshop). Browse through the brushes and select the one named, Starburst – Small.

Starburst - small

TIP: It’s always a good practice to name the layers. When you have loads of unnamed layers, finding the correct layer is like going through hell…

Size the brush tip to 40px and place the stars randomly on the edges of the text where the gold color is brighter and where the light is more intense. And I forgot to tell you that the foreground color should be set to white.

And there you have it. Nice looking gold text.

Sometimes you may feel that the letters do not have the gold like effect that you wanted it to have. In that case you can try adding an extra layer style, Satin. Play with the controls and see how it can be used. I have applied the Satin style to the text as an added measure. Here’s how the final outcome looks like…

Finished product... What do you think?

But if you still feel bad about the looks, don’t worry. My next tutorial again would be on creating golden text, but with a twist. We’d be using one of the dreaded features in Photoshop to do this! But I won’t be telling what it is, since it’ll spoil all the fun.

Until then master this technique. It’s easy and will be sufficient for most tasks. Until next time, Adios!

[tweetmeme]The discovery of Bronze was important to humankind, since it helped to create better metal objects, especially weapons, than previously possible. Even though it was more brittle than steel, it was much durable than the copper and stone predecessors.

Today, we’re going to create some Bronze from scratch using our alchemist friend, Photoshop.

Step 1

For starters create a new document. I used a new RGB document with dimensions of 1000 px by 500 px, resolution of 150 with white background.

Next I created the word Bronze, using Times New Roman in Bold. The size was 100pt.
When the bronze effect is applied to serif fonts it looks much nicer to me. Well the taste depends and you can use any font and play along. You can use any color for text since we’ll be changing it later using a gradient overlay.

Step 2

Let’s apply the necessary effects. We’ll begin with the drop shadow.

Step 3

Add a gradient overlay. I used the colors ‘A2893B‘ and ‘ EFDC92‘ for this.

Step 4

Here comes the bevel & emboss effect for the 3D look. Using the default settings is okay. But since we are looking forward to getting better results, let’s play with the controls.
In the shading section, change the colors of the highlight mode to ‘CBB164′ and the shadow mode to ‘ FEE39A’.

Step 5

Now it’s almost complete. Add a 1px stroke using the color ‘6f6329‘.

Step 6

We’re going to add a brushed look to our bronze text.
Crate a new layer and fill it with any color. Name the layer as ‘Brushed’.
Change the background and foreground colors to default by pressing ‘D’.
Now render some fibers using a variance of 15.0. Crank up the Strength all the way up to 64.0 and press OK.  

Note: The reason for filling the layer with a color before rendering the fibers is, unlike clouds, fibers cannot be rendered on an empty layer.  It doesn’t matter what color you fill the layer with, but keep an eye on the background and foreground colors, as it affects the color of fibres.

Keeping the ‘Brushed’ layer highlighted and apply a motion blur. Use an angle of 90 degrees and push the distance slider all the way up.  
Click OK. You have some gray colored lines above your text now.

Press Ctrl + T to go to free transform mode. Rotate the layer 45 degrees and drag the handles until you completely cover the Bronze text.
Ctrl + click on the text layer thumbnail to select the text area and highlight the Brushed layer. Press the ‘Add layer mask‘ button at the bottom of the layer palette. Now the text area should be covered with gray lines.

On the ‘Brushed’ layer, lower the opacity to 15% and the fill to 90%.

I also added a maroon colored background of the colour ’790000′ and a gradient to enhance the look of the text. Your layers palette may look like this now.

Voila!! Now you have a nice brushed look to your Bronze text. Here’s the end result…

You can also add gradients and other what-not to add realism. The key is not to be afraid and playing with controls. That is the key to learning Photoshop. The possibilities are endless.

Remember, you can always download the PSD file for this tutorial below in the Members Get More panel.

Until we meet again with another tutorial, Adios!

[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]Lately LetterPress has become a real trend in web design. For those unfamiliar with the effect, LetterPress gives the impression that words and letters have actually been pressed or bevelled inwards. It’s not hard to see why it’s so popular. LetterPress is stylish, very simple, and it’s third dimension allows it to catch the eye without being overpowering. It’s very easy too, and only takes a few minutes. Here’s how to apply the LetterPress typography effect in photoshop.

Step 1:

Open a new canvas in photoshop and paint a new colour to the background. Radial Gradients work well here. As you can see I’ve chosen a gradient of light greys, with the lightest colour glowing from the bottom of the canvas.

Step 2:

Type your word in and choose the colour of your text. The colour should be white, black, or a lighter or darker version of your background colour. As you can see, I’ve chosen white which conforms with the grey background.
The LetterPress effect works significantly better on larger sized text, and bold fonts work much more effectively. I’m using Museo with the weight as 700 and the size at 150pt. The settings in the next few steps apply mainly to text around 150pt. If your text is smaller, just use smaller sizes and depths. Likewise for larger fonts, use larger numbers in the settings.

Step 3:

Add a gradient overlay to your word. Set the colours to black and white, and reduce the opacity to around 5-10%. Your gradient needs to be subtle, and the lighter colours work better at the top.

Step 4:

Add an Inner Shadow to the text. This will give the effect that the text has been pressed into the surface. The depth of the inner shadow determines how far inwards the text is pressed, but I tend to find that less is more. Set the colour to black and reduce the opacity to 40%. The size and depth may change slightly depending on the size of the text you’re using (the size I used was 150pt). I’ve gone with a depth of 2px and a size of 4px. Also setting the angle at 120 degrees tends to be the most effective. The angle we use here will depict the position of the light source. 120 is a fairly natural angle, and it also helps to add the third dimension.

Step 5:

Add a light Drop Shadow. The shadow helps to give the effect that the edges are curved, as though they are beveled inwards. In order for the effect to be optimal, we need to once again consider that less is more. I’ve gone with a distance of 0px because all corners of the text will be beveled, as well as an angle of 120 degrees to be consistent with the light source and the inner shadow. Also, the colour is very important. In order to make the lighting of the text realistic, your shadow needs to be darker than the darkest colour in your background. This can easily be achieved by setting the colour to black and reducing the opacity to between 30% and 60%, depending on the darkness of your colour. That way, if you’ve got a red background, the shadow will appear dark red. Likewise with blue and every other colour.

Step 6 (optional, but worth doing):

Add some noise to your background. This light noisy texture adds to the realism off the pressed in letters. It looks like paper, or a notepad, or something else you’d imagine letters could be pressed into. I’ve gone with uniform, monochromatic noise with the amount set to 3%. Once again, i’m being minimalistic.

But I’ve got small font and it looks crappy with these settings:

Just use smaller numbers for the settings. I’ve based my figures around a font size of 150pt. If your font is significantly smaller, then just use 2 or 3 for the inner shadow depth instead of 4, or whichever number makes it look good.

That’s really all there is to it. The LetterPress effect is very simple to apply and produces great results. It’s simple, modern and incredibly stylish. Just remember to be minimalistic and all should be well.