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Here are the links to the layouts using this technique. Make Each Moment Count and Thank Heaven for Little Boys
I use PSPX. I'm pretty sure this can be translated for lesser and more current versions.
1. I create my layouts in 12x12 format and 300 ppi. Drag a copy of your photo onto the layout. The photo I used for the background was originally a 230 ppi photo and just a little larger than 8"x6". I stretched my photo to increase the size by using the Pick tool and dragging a corner of the abounding box outward at an angle. If you distort your photo just click undo and try again. Typically it's not a good idea to increase the size of a photo unless you have a filter to do so (which I don't). Especially if you plan on printing your final layout. Usually you'll find the quality of the photo to be a bit pixely when you do that. Luckily that didn't turn out to be the case with mine. It actually printed out quite beautifuly in the end.
2. Next I changed the the photo to black and white and adjust the lightness of the photo by clicking Adjust>Hue/Saturation>Hue/Saturation/Lightness. Uncheck colorize. Add these values. Saturation: -100 Hue: 0 and for Lightness choose any value you like at 50 and above. Easy, easy!! Click OK.
3. These next few steps are a little more advanced if you're not familiar with masks and mask layers. On the layer palette, click on the photo layer to make it active, right click on the active layer and select New mask layer>Show All. This will create a new group of layers. Activate the layer that now says "Group Raster 1". That should be the layer at the very top of the new layer group.
4. Click Layers>Load/Save Mask>Load Mask From Disk.
5. Click on the fly-out arrow next to the Mask Catagory Window. In the catagory box select Masks or All and choose a soft edge mask. I chose Conte. Make sure these options are checked. Create Mask from: Source Luminance, Orientation: Fit to Layer, Options: Show all mask. Click Load.
Notice how the black area of the mask is now showing as transparent on your photo and the white or center area of the mask is allowing the photo to show through.
6. Because this particular mask covered too much of my photo, I needed to edit some portions of the mask. With my mask group open, activate the mask layer on the layer palette. This layer will have a small mask icon on it to distinguish it from the other layers. Because we're going to edit the black and white mask we'll need to work with the colors black and white from our Materials palette. So on the Materials Palette, click the Foreground and Stoke Properties box. Sort Order is Palette. Choose the color black and click ok. Now click on the Background and Fill Properties box. Sort Order is Palette and choose white. Click OK.
7. Select your Paint Brush Tool from the tool menu. Enter these values for the tool options. We're almost done.
Size: 500, Hardness: 0, Step: 40, Density: 100, Thickness:100, Rotation:0, Opacity: 100.
8. With your mask layer still active, click on the mask layer toggle at the top of the Layer Palette just under the palette tool bar. It is another mask icon just like the one on your mask layer. When you click on it, you'll notice your mask layer will turn red on your layout. This shows you that you are in mask edit mode. The red represents the black portions of your mask layer. You can see what your mask layer actually looks like on your layer palette. So just try to keep in mind that the mask layer is actually what you are editing and not the photo. What you want to remember is, if you want more photo to show through... add more white with your paint brush to those areas. If you want to mask out or hide more of the photo... paint more black onto the mask. Left click on your mouse is black, right click on your mouse is white. Piece of cake right? LOL! It really is if you can just remember those few important things. It took me a while to remember them but after playing with it a while, it's really become second nature for me. When you're done editing your mask, remember to turn off the mask toggel at the top of the layers palette. Then close your mask layer group and work on the rest of your layout. Just place your background layers beneath your mask layer group.
9. Oh yah... one more thing. I also lowered the opacity of my mask group to make it just a bit transparent. To do that I activated the top layer of my mask group and slid the opacity slider bar to a lower value. The opacity slider bar is at the top of the layer palette. Whew!!
Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!
Brenda
