TUTORIAL # 3: Photoshop All About Vectors

Vector Vector My Protector......

Well ok, maybe not but it rhymes and it sure does make my Photoshop life a whole lot less complicated...Plus it's Fun & Effective! What more could a girl with a camera and tons of post production editing to complete before the end of this day.. ask for?!

Why Yes, I did create a new brush for this tutorial...thank you for noticing. :]  This represents me on a good day. :]~

Last tutorial we parted right after sharpening. How rude!  Lets jump right into learning how to Vector Paint.  This is probably the single most useful PS action I have learned thus far. It saves a lot of trouble trying to achieve a lot of 'something' in some areas of an image while not so much 'something'  is needed in other areas.
 * Something = Sharpening, color adjustment, other adjustment layers.... and so on..



Lets begin with yesterday's image exactly where we left off. Well not exactly because I have brought it back to the point where we added that 'High Pass Filter' & then shot the radius up a bit just for tutorial presentation purposes. This image is clearly over sharpened on purpose,  as we notice that 'halo' effect going on which is hardly ever an effect we are going for...but in this case it serves a visual cause :]

We really want to sharpen this image so that we can reduce some of the opacity levels on some of the image while allowing other areas to have the benefit of the full strength sharpening.

With our layers still visible [not merged or flattened] we will add a Vector mask [the camera icon].
hit the 'B' key on our keyboard to make our brushes palette visible, Choose a soft brush from the brush palette, drop the opacity level between 25-30 or whatever gives you the best results. Don't be afraid to paint with a higher opacity brush. Be sure that your background/foreground colors are default [black and white] by clicking [SHIFT +"D"] Black should be your foreground color.  Be sure as well that you are working with the newly created vector mask by clicking on it.  You will notice a little highlighted box around the vector, this means it is an active layer...this is a good thing because it's what we are aiming for & want to be working with  :]

Add a Vector Mask to your background layer by clicking the 'camera' icon at the bottom of our PS.  Choose a soft round brush from your brush palette and set your  brush opacity level to a comfortable level

Now the fun part.  Paint any and all areas that you want to be less sharp.  You can change your brush opacity for different areas of your image that you may wish to be a littl more or less sharp.  You can also switch your forground color to white by clicking the letter 'X' on your keyboard & proceed to repaint areas on your image that you may have inadvertantly reduced in sharpness.  Experiment...practice and Enjoy. It's a simple little PS action but it brings great big results. 

Do you have a vector  tip or trick you'd like to share?  Feel free to share yours or post a link to your results. I love learning anything PS.  Peace. K.  & Remember, If I know it~I'll Show it! ♥

Next up: BE AWARE!  CONTENT AWARE THAT IS!

**Visit me soon for more fabulous rants and Photoshop Tips brought to you by...Me. .... KeKe.