Deborah Woehr

Watermarks are a great way to protect your work against copyright infringement because they are embedded in your images. Photoshop CS3 has a filter called Digimarc which embeds watermarks into your images. The thing is, you’ll have to pay $79 annually for their basic subscription package in order to get it to work. You can find free watermarking software online for both Macs and PCs. But why go to all of that trouble when you can make your own custom watermark inside Photoshop with a text layer?

Once you type in your copyright information, make sure your watermark is placed in a spot where it is not easy to edit out without looking obvious. I’ve seen some transparent watermarks that were displayed diagonally across the image. Simply change the transparency of the text so that it blends in somewhat within your image, and then rotate it. Make it stand out by giving it a drop shadow and/or embossing it. I’ll provide an example for you below.

Before I close, I want to tell you that watermarking your images serves another purpose besides piracy protection. Google indexes your images whether you want it to or not. In fact, Google loves images. So, instead of putting ©John Smith 2008 for your copyright info, use your name and/or your website.

Sitepoint is offering their Photoshop Anthology ebook as a free download for the next thirteen days. If you’re looking for a book that will help you utilize Photoshop in designing web pages, this book has plenty of information (296-pages worth) to help you create stunning effects. Here’s a taste of what you’ll get.

* Design attractive web graphics
* Touch up photographs for web use
* Create web site mockups using Photoshop
* Improve your digital workflow
* Master menus, buttons and background tiles
* Use nondestructive editing techniques

Go to Sitepoint to learn more information about this book and to download it before time runs out. A word of warning: It seems as though they are getting inundated with requests. So, if you don’t receive the link to the ebook right away, don’t panic and think that you’ve been phished. It may take them a full day to send you the link, but you will get it.

I’ve spent the last several months researching different online schools to upgrade my Computer Graphics degree, only to find that the costs are too prohibitive ($80,000 for a really good program) for my budget. So, I started looking for alternatives. I have a small library that contains how-to books on InDesign, Photoshop, design, etc. But the thing about how-to books is that they can easily overwhelm and frustrate.

For instance, I bought books for InDesign CS2 when I was preparing to design the 2006 Writer’s Blog Anthology. Having used Quark and PageMaker in the past, I was somewhat familiar with the basic interface for InDesign. However, I needed help in setting up a table of contents. I set these books down, more confused than I was when I opened their covers. Is it just me, I wondered. When I went to Amazon to read the reviews of these books and others, I found that I wasn’t alone. Some of us are better visual learners than book learners.

While browsing through the how-to manual online, I found this training video called InDesign CS3 Essential Training. At the time, I balked at the $150 pricetag because the books were so much cheaper. Then I saw it again on the shelf in my local Barnes&Noble. I wasn’t sold on it until I went to the Lynda.com site and learned that I could receive video instruction for 431 courses for $25 per month.

I’ve been taking copious notes while watching this video series since Monday. David Blatner, who blogs on InDesignSecrets.com, is the host. His style is very straightforward as he teaches you both the basics of this program and tricks on how to maximize your time by using keyboard shortcuts, customizing your menus, adding special characters, importing text, etc.

The video on importing text is especially valuable to me because I have relied on the Place feature as well as the “Copy and Paste” method when importing text for my books. David explains why you should get out the copy and paste habit. He also explains how to import Word files so InDesign will format them correctly. This is a huge timesaver.

If you have 9 hours of straight time to sit in front of your monitor or TV, you can easily get through these video series in one sitting. But I recommend that you take your time because this program is complex. I’ve listed the truncated version of the table of contents to give you an idea of what you’ll be learning. To see the full TOC, visit Lynda.com.

Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. Workspace
3. Getting to the Tools
4. Creating a Document
5. Managing Pages
6. Text
7. Graphics
8. Formatting Objects
9. Managing Objects
10. Transforming Objects
11. Character Formatting
12. Paragraph Formatting
13. Styles
14. Working with Tables
15. Color
16. Exporting
17. Printing
18. Conclusion
InDesign and InCopy overview
Where to go next
Goodbye

Is the DVD worth the price? It depends on how and where you’re going to use it. If you’re training primarily from home and have a good Internet connection, then I suggest you consider signing up for the basic subscription at Lynda.com because you’ll not only get access to this basic course, but you’ll have access to the other six at a fraction of the cost ($300 for a full year versus $1050+shipping for the DVDs). If you are a visual learner like I am, this course is an excellent way of mastering the basics of Adobe InDesign.

I was browsing through the NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) tutorials this morning and came across a tutorial for Smart Gradients. By the way, you’ll find tons of great tutorials in this members-only website. Anyway, this tutorial involved creating smart objects, and then creating wavy gradients with the freeform warp tool. The first image is the result of my initial test.

After I save my first image, I decided to experiment with the freeform warp tool to see just how far I could push it.

Gradient 1

I liked the color combination and the somewhat 3D look of this design.

Gradient 2

This took me all of two seconds to create, once I set up the color scheme.

Gradient 3

This design was created by distorting the radial blur.

I’ve had this sitting on my server since Sunday, but have been too busy with writing projects to post about it. The uploading process went smoothly, once I realized that I needed to create a directory first. It’s a very simple one-page setup, which I created almost exclusively in Photoshop and imported into Freeway. Prospective readers can either download the free ebook for Prosperity or buy the paperback on Amazon.

To see it in action, click on the picture.

On Monday, I received a nice surprise when I found an email from Freeway’s technical support, which addressed the comments that I had written in this weekend’s post about my results with the software. With their permission, I am posting the solutions they gave me for the problems I faced.

We were alerted to your blog post by Google Alerts, so we wanted to discuss some of your comments.

It’s not directly possible to wrap text around curved graphics, however it is possible to wrap around the graphic item. You can do this by drawing an HTML item and entering the text you wish to use.

With this HTML item filled, place the text insertion cursor where you wish the graphic to be placed and use Insert>Graphic Item. Import the image file that you wish to use and with the Inspector palette, set Align to Left or Right.

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For your uploaded site, Freeway uses relative paths to all the resources, so if you have a Site Folder set that contains no other files, you should be able to simply upload the entire contents of the Site Folder and all will display correctly.

If you created from the Blank template or another template, you should have a folder called Site Folder alongside your Freeway file. If you created from custom, you will have been asked to specify one when publishing.

If you selected the same folder your Freeway file is in, I recommend creating a new folder and changing the Site Folder setting so that only Freeway will write your site files into this folder.

If you are using another FTP program such as Cyberduck or Fetch, you will be able to upload the entire contents of the Site Folder as mentioned. Otherwise you can use Freeway’s own built in FTP software to upload to your server, available from the File menu.

I bought Freeway Pro 4 in February and have been experimenting with it to create a website with moderate success. The first design limitation I experienced was the inability to make the text wrap around graphic elements. Then, I read their manual and learned that you can’t wrap html text around graphic items. You have to input your text as a graphical item, which (according to the tutorial I watched) isn’t readable by the search engine spiders. I began to wonder if I should have saved up for Dreamweaver, despite the steep learning curve.

When Freeway 5.0 launched last week, I hoped to find an improvement with the above scenario. The same rule still applies. I’ve yet to explore every feature (see link below) in the latest version, but I’m just as happy with the new interface as I was with the old one. You can design a custom website within the Freeway program, just by using the built-in tools. Even better, you can import files from Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, Fireworks, and other programs into your design.

I was able to create a single-page website in less than an hour, which I uploaded to my server. The results were crappy, however. Freeway automatically makes folders for your images and CSS files, but the images failed to display. Plus I saw some HTML text that shouldn’t have been there. The developers haven’t created a user manual for Freeway 5.0 yet, so I read through the manual for the earlier version. Their instructions sound so simple, but I’m wondering if I have to modify an html file in order to get them to display properly. Once I iron out this problem, I’ll post a snapshot of my results.

Overall, I like using Freeway. It has come a long way since version 3.0, which wasn’t user friendly at all. Looking at their Gallery, I’ve seen quite a few impressive sites.

Freeway Pro 5.0 Feature List

The goal for this assignment was to create a business card that complimented the website, while making its own bold statement. My husband had made the original on a white background in Word and printed it on inkjet business card paper. The result wasn’t bad, but I felt that a black background and some Photoshop enhancements would make the card stand out better. I also felt that using VistaPrint would give us better quality paper.

My husband smiled when he held one of the cards in his hand two weeks later. He liked the design. But there was one mistake that neither one of us caught before I placed the order. I’ll let you guess what it is.

As Homer Simpson says, “Doh!”

I’ve started a collection of tutorials for Photoshop late last year so I can learn how to do everything from creating snazzy web buttons to illustrations. This morning, I found a neat collection from Smashing Magazine that covers a wide gamut of subjects and techniques. They’ve also included a list of resources at the end.

Adobe Photoshop Tutorials - Best Of

I haven’t had much time to practice digital painting as much as I would have liked to because I’ve been preparing for my first virtual book tour, which is scheduled for February. Here is a list of my scheduled stops.

Feb. 1 - Rose Marie Wolf’s Blog www.rosemariewolf.blogspot.com (guest post)
Feb. 2 - Paranormal Stories www.paranormalstories.blogspot.com (guest post)
Feb. 4 - M.E. Ellis’ Nutters Gang www.meellis.blogspot.com (guest post)
Feb. 5 - Storycrafters www.storycrafters.blogspot.com (guest post)
Feb. 6 - Blogcritics www.blogcritics.org (interview)
Feb. 7 - Beyond the Books www.beyondthebooks.wordpress.com (interview)
Feb. 8 - Fiction Scribe www.fictionscribe.com (interview)
Feb. 10 - Dark Phantom Review www.thedarkphantom.wordpress.com (book spotlight)
Feb. 11 - The Story Behind the Book www.thestorybehindthebook.wordpress.com (guest post)
Feb. 12 - Buzz the Book www.buzzthebook.blogspot.com (book spotlight)
Feb. 13 - The Book Stacks www.thebookstacks.com (guest post)
Feb. 14 - Henri the Ghost www.henritheghost.blogspot.com (interview)
Feb. 15 - Night Owl Romance www.nightowlromance.com (you’ll actually have another url that will take you right to your interview) (interview)
Feb. 18 - Paperback Writer www.rebecca2007.wordpress.com (interview)
Feb. 20 - The Book Connection www.thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com (guest post)
Feb. 25 - The Plot www.theplotline.wordpress.com (book spotlight)
Feb. 26 - The Plot www.theplotline.wordpress.com (character interview)
Feb. 29 - Announcement of free book giveaway

Dorothy Thompson of Pump Up Your Book Promotion has done a fabulous job of helping me promote Prosperity. Next month, I’ll be posting the details of each stop at my writing blog. Hope to see you there!