Another May Day Freebie

Happy May Days!  Here's another freebie for our fans!  It's digital masking tape.  What do do with digital masking tape?  Well....you digitally add it to your images.  You can even do that in a program like Microsoft Word.  All you need to do is layer the image and the tape together.

Here is an easy tutorial in Photoshop for you.

1.  Open up Photoshop

2.  Open up your file you want to add the digital tape to.  There are several ways to do this but the most obvious way is to click file>open, then browse to where your photo or image is saved.  When you find the image, click on it and click open.

3. The image will likely not have extra room around it so the next step is to make the canvas larger.  Click image > canvas size.  A window will open up w/ the dimensions of the current canvas.  I struggle to think in anything but "inches" so I always change my unit of measurement to inches in the drop down window.  Then I make the image significantly bigger.  Just type in bigger numbers.  It's okay if its way too big.  I almost always use that last drop down menu and change my canvas extension color to "transparent" as well.

4.  Once your canvas is bigger, it will look like this (or actually it may show a checkerboard pattern to represent transparency)

5.  Now it's time to add the tape.  Click on file>place, then browse to where you save the tape file. And when you find the tape you like click on it and click "place"

6.  Once the "tape" image is placed, it might be too big like mine.

7.  Just use the top select arrow to select the tape and position it and size it.  HINT: Make sure "show transform controls" is selected in the very top of the program.  ANOTHER HINT: Make sure you are working on the tape layer.

8.  Once the tape is in the right position, it is time to trim the image.  Click on image>trim.  Take note of what the new window is asking.  Do you want to trim transparent pixels?  Do you want to trim the color that is in the top right corner?  Do you want to trim away top, bottom, left and right?  Click on what is appropriate for your image.

Once your done, save your image in the format and size you need.  Share with your family and friends.  

ONE MORE HINT:  If you want to add text to the tape, use the text tool but do it BEFORE you rotate it. Then select the text and the tape layers and group them (ctr + g).  Now you can rotate and size them and they will stick together!

Get your free tape here!  While you are at LD, enjoy our dollar day pricing during May Days!