Turning Your Image Into a Circle-- Photoshop/PSE Tutorial

I have had this question a  few times, and turning your photo into a circle in Photoshop is a skill that incorporates an important Photoshop skill-- clipping masks.
Skill: Turning a rectangular photo into a circular image
Technology Used: PSE 6 (I chose this because it is a program that you all are likely to have and this tutorial can be easily adapted to the full version of Photoshop)

Part A: Creating the Circle
Open PSE in Edit

File=> New=> Blank File   I created a 12 x 12 image but any larger size will work so that you don't have to do to much re-sizing.

Create a New Blank Layer

Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool

Select from the options menu-- Fixed Aspect Ratio and the same numbers for width and height to make it a circle.  Here it is set as "Normal."

Click and Drag out your circle- resize and move with the Move tool so that it is the appropriate size.

You have two options to fill your circle

1: Select your Paint Bucket and fill your circle with a random color.

2: Select the New Adjustment Layer Icon-- The half black/half white circle in the Layers Pallette and select Solid Color.

You should now see your blank background layer and your circle on an independant layer

Part B: Adding the Photo Layer to Your Image

Open your photo.

Select=> All

Edit=>Copy

Now you can move back to your circle image and select Edit=>Paste and PSE will move this copied image to a new layer.

Part C: Clipping Your Photo Into Your Circle

Place your photo layer on top of your circle if it isn't already. 
Make sure your photo layer is selected. (The layer will be hightlighted in your Layer Pallette)
Hold the ALT key down on your computer and slowly hover your mouse down from your photo layer to your circle layer.  You will see your Mouse turn into a different icon, which basically means that it is it is time to Snip.

You can do this by simply left-clicking your mouse, and all of the areas of the photo which are outside of the circle have now dissappeared.  But don't worry-- you can still move your photo layer and resize it so that it fits your circle the best.

You will also see that the layer that is clipped is indented and that there is a small right angle arrow showing that it is clipped to the lower layer.


Part D: Flattening Your Image

Turn Off your Background Layer by clicking on the Eye next to the layer.

Now you can simply flatten your image using Merge Visible/Flatten Image=> Discard Hidden Layers or your favorite method. 

Save as a PSD or PNG to preserve the transparent background or simply move to your destination image. 
As you practice more, you can create clipping masks in the image you will ultimately be using, but when you are first starting out, it can be helpful to not have too many layers to work with-- have fun!

{Making the Most of Your Point and Shoot Camera}

Point and Shoot digital cameras have come a long way from the simple 2MP still image recorders of just a few years ago.  Today, a wide variety of creative styles and inexpensive editing software has changed the world of digital photography to the level of art, even for those who cannot afford expensive professional cameras. 

This series will cover basics of using your point and shoot digital camera beyond the automatic settings and quick fixes that you can do to when it seems like your camera just doesn’t “get” what you want it to do. 

One of the most popular features of point and shoot cameras is their numerous Creative Settings.  One of the most powerful is the Portrait setting.  This setting is most often symbolized as a woman's profile, sometimes in a hat.  This setting will do two things- it will make the point of focus crisp and clear while blurring out the background (commonly called bokeh) and will meter the exposure based upon the subject of the portrait rather than the surrounding background. 

This setting, naturally, is useful for portrait photography, but it can also be useful for still life photography where you would like to have a singular subject in focus and the surrounding area blurred.

What should the Portrait setting not be used for?  It functions poorly as a setting for landscape photography where you want a large area of your image in focus.  Some cameras also have issues in the portrait setting when they are trying to photograph larger groups of people.  The camera wants to have a smaller area in focus, and so people in the background or along the sides of the image may not be in focus. 

Up Next in Making the Most of Your Point and Shoot Camera: The Sports Creative Setting.

Basics of Non-Auto Photography

Whether you are using one of the cheapest Point and Shoot cameras available, or you have sprung hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for an expensive SLR (we'll cover the difference later) the basic concepts of how your camera is working are still the same.

 Once you know these basics and have control over these three components of a properly exposed image, you can use this knowledge to create great images in a wide variety of lighting, and not just when your camera happens to guess correctly how you want your photo to work.

In photography, the three main technical components affecting image exposure, depth of field and a whole slew of other really important things are  Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO.  We cover the Terrible Trio in class, but each of these three vital components to photography deserves more time and attention than we can give in class, and so this series, Basics of Non-Auto Photography, we will spend a little time exploring each of these, and hopefully remind you that you are smarter than your camera and you have to tell it what to do. 

So grab your camera and manual, get ready to spin some dials away from Auto, and learn to harness the technology at your fingertips.