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The calling card size I prefer to use is
250w x 150h, so that's the finished dimensions of this card.
I started with an art image. Depending on the scene, you can either crop it to the area you want & resize, or resize then crop. In this case, I wanted the entire height of this picture, so I resized a copy of the image to 150 pixels high. |
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I cropped the image to bring the figure closer to the left edge. |
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Then I changed the canvas size to 250w x 150h. |
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Using the eraser tool, I took out the background around the figure, leaving the clouds and the rock she's standing on. Using the magic wand, I selected the blank area and inverted my selection. I used an unsharp mask set at .5 to sharpen it slightly. |
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With the retouch tool set on "soften", 1 pixel wide, I ran it along the right edge of the selection to help it blend with the background. I've found by keeping the edge selected, the softened area is contained & doesn't "bleed over" into other areas. Turn off the visibility of the upper layer for now. |
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For the background, I selected an area out of the original image (resized to my card height), copied it, and pasted it into a new layer below the layer with the figure. |
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With the pasted selection still floating, click on the deformation tool, and... |
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...stretch the selection out past the "edges" of your image. If you don't go past the edges, you may find that there's a "fade" that will show up on one side after you apply the deformation. You may have to try it a few times to get it the way you want it. |
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This is the background after I clicked on "Apply Deformation". Depending on the selection you have to work with, you might want to play with a gaussian blur or other effects. |
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Turn on the visibility of the upper layer. At this point you might have to touch up the figure to help marry it into the background. I found a few stray pixels out of place & cleaned them up. |
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Add a new layer. Select all, then apply a cutout effect for a shaped edge. |
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Add a 4th layer, apply your credits, and
Voila! I keep my "Cards by..." images in black & white as .psp files so I can quickly copy & paste into new cards. |