| For the beginner, the effects on the Web
can look both good and bad, striking yet seemingly impossible to reproduce. In fact, many
graphics effects are surprisingly easy, and this article shows you how you can create some
exotic effects for your masterpieces.
Get The Right Tool(s)
Graphics artists work with many paint programs - no single
program does everything. In preparing this article, I decided to pick a specific program,
PaintShop Pro, to discuss effects. Specifying a program makes examples easier to follow
and practice. As well, PaintShop Pro is a shareware program, meaning that you can use it
before buying it, allowing you to try these examples out at (initially) no cost. Finally,
I've used it for several years, and have found it a good combination of power versus
price, and especially well designed for Web graphics work. If it interests you, see
www.jasc.com for downloading instructions. In any case, the effects I am showing are
commonly available on most paint programs, and will work with few variations.
The Effects
Listed below are the effects - the comments in parenthesis
are the PaintShop Pro version 3 menu options to use them:
Emboss (Image; Special Filter; Emboss)
Embossing works by highlighting the edges of an image,
making it look three dimensional. One useful effect is to lightly emboss a background,
such as a logo, making the web page look like it's been watermarked.
Reduce Colors (Colors; Decrease Color Depth)
The number of individual colors on a page determines its
file size. However, more color makes a picture look more natural. Some computers can only
display 256 colors at a time, reducing your options. The solution? Play with this effect a
lot. Reducing the colors beforehand reduces the possible changes made on the user's
computer. Turning a picture to black and white can be particularly striking on the
full-color Web. Increasing colors while designing, and then possibly decreasing them
before placing the image on the Web, results in the best over-all look for a picture.
Blur or Soften (Image; Normal Filters; Blur)
Shrinking or blowing up a picture can leave it jagged or
grainy. These smoothing effects help by very slightly smudging the picture. It's
especially effective with photos you are shrinking; soften both before and after shrinking
for the best result.
Trace or Enhance (Filter; Edge Enhance)
Sometimes called Trace, sometimes Edge Enhance, the end
result of each is similar to a line drawing of the image. By tracing a picture, and
changing it to black and white, you get a picture that looks like it's been hand drawn.
Resize the Picture (Image; Resize)
Resizing is useful to fit pictures into position on a Web
page. It can also be useful for distorting a picture. One example; rather than a large
picture of trees for a full background, squish it horizontally and put it on the left
side. Rather than dominating the Web page (and making the text hard to read) it will still
be there to evoke the mood, but with the space savings.
Adjust Color, Lighting (Adjust; Brightness, Contrast)
Although a lot of effects come under this label, the most
popular ones are brightness and contrast. This is the workhorse function of any program.
Brighten a picture enough, and decrease contrast, and you have a nice background that
doesn't intrude; if a picture is too light or dark, this can make it 'just right';
selectively applied, it can bring out effects that were hard to see. Other variations of
this effect let you 'stretch' the colors to more evenly space them across the spectrum, or
color saturation, where you can intensify colors or wash them out.
Cutting an Irregular Section (the 'lasso' toolbar icon)
You probably know you can cut and paste rectangles areas in
a paint program. But rectangles rarely work for editing, so these effects let you draw any
shape to copy or cut. Draw around the object, copy to the clipboard, and paste elsewhere.
It can be used to adjust the layout of a picture (for instance, tightening up spaces
between objects by moving them together). Myself, I enjoy using it to switch heads on
family pictures.
Cloning (the toolbar icon with two little people on it)
This tool is actually two; one is the source, where the
'paint' is picked up, and the other is the destination. The two can be widely separated.
Using these, parts of the image can be duplicated easily. Where it comes into its own is
after a significant change it made to artwork. After smoothing the edges of the change
(such as a 'switched' head), there may be sections that still don't look right. To fill in
properly, I clone another section of background that fits, and add pieces until I'm happy
with the results. By cloning, rather than painting, I get a more natural look and result.
Just the Tip of the Tips
I consider these the 'workhorse' effects, and used in about
80% of my graphics work. Possibly you will too. Get comfortable with them, and you'll have
that much more time to explore the other 20% out there! |
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