Viva PhotoShop!!!

There are loads of softwares out there claiming to make the world a better place to live. Humans often bond to these necessary evils so much that they can't live without them. Especially for my profession MS Office package is gonna be the lifeline and I cannot imagine people to have managed to do business without these tools to aid.

At this Information Age its quite weird if you do any activity without a computer to aid. If you ever came across an avenue in which computers haven't played a role, you have just stumbled upon a huge market opportunity and we might have some serious business to talk :))

Enough of that, today I am gonna write about a fascinating creative suite that has transformed the world of Desktop publishing and Raster graphics totally. Yes I am indeed talking about Adobe Photoshop. I ain't gonna brief about who created it and what you can do with it. If I said, "with Photoshop you can do Anything and Everything", It will still be an understatement.

Lets save some time. You can quickly come back after getting some perspective from Wiki, for we have a tutorial to get you started right away.

Start your software and study the various windows available on the screen, you'll find picture editing tools and brushes to the left and a window with layers and channels to the right( layers are indispensable components for any raster editing tool.)

You'll also have a blank sheet from which your masterpiece is gonna take shape. Today we'll learn how to deal with layers and add detail to an object. In fact Photoshop is all about placing the right layers in the right order with right settings. Although it ain’t as easy as it seems.

Now we all need a base to work on right. Let’s use a typeface to work on. My intention is to mimic the “e” in Internet explorer and make it look like a plastic.

Step 1:

Click the Type icon on the left and enter the letter “e”.
Choose Times New Roman and Bold Italic.
Choose some dark blue color. I have chosen #1A68AF and size as you wish.

Step 2:

Hold Ctrl and click on the type layer to select it's border. Next, create a new layer and contract the selection by about 16 pixels.

Select > Modify > Contract... 16 Pixels

Step 3:

Select White as the foreground color, and fill the selection. Alt+Backspace

Remove the selection Ctrl+D, and Gaussian Blur the layer by 16 pixels.

Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... 16 Pixels

Then, Gaussian Blur it again by 8 pixels, and then by 4 pixels.
Set the Layer's Opacity to 50%, and the Blending Mode to Color Dodge.

Step 4:

Now, hold Ctrl, and in the Layers window, click on the type layer, to select it's transparency.

In the Channels window, press the Save Selection as channel button. Now, click on the new Channel it created.

Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... 16 Pixels

Then, Gaussian Blur it again by 8 pixels, 4 pixels, and finally 2 pixels.

Invert the selection Ctrl+Shift+I, clear the selection with black Del, and finally Deselect.

Step 5:

Go back to the Layers window. Hold down Ctrl, and click on the Type Layer, again, to select it's transparency.

Create a new layer, and drag it above the Inner Glow Layer.Select the new layer, fill the selection with black, and rename the layer Highlights.

Check on Preserve Transparency, and set the blending mode to Screen.

Step 6:

With the Highlights layer selected, go: Filter > Render > Lighting Effects...

Set the Material Properties to:
Gloss: 79
Material: -37
Exposure: 56
Ambience: -100

Change the Texture Channel to Alpha 1, or the channel you were working on before, and it's Height to 100.

Create a directional light, Intensity 32, so that the lighting covers most of the “e”, but the brightest parts are still on the edges.

Step 7:
When the Lighting Effects is done, Gaussian Blur the layer by 3 pixels, to get rid of the levels.

Now this is the step where you can use your own artistic freedom.

Image > Adjust > Curves...

The curves window will begin with a straight line. Click any place on the line to create a new point, and drag the points to move them.

Step 8:

Throw down a blue drop shadow (since the light is flowing through the clear plastic), and voila you have the plastic!



I don't claim to have invented this method. Although this was the first tutorial I had tried out 4 years back when I learned Photoshop and it does a good job at introducing all the features of PhotoShop.

Will soon come back with some of my originals.

Was it all clockwork carefully wound by Him???

Two years hence life was so different. Try this... I was one of those fortunate kids who graduated from College of Engineering, Guindy, Asia's oldest technical institution. I had no regrets for missing out on the IITs probably because our college was ranked in the Top 10 and our Alumni held equally prestigious positions worldwide. Yet little did I know that our college had been losing its sheen in the recent past and that the onus of putting our college back on the world map was solely on us students. By the time I realized the changes in the New World Order, it was too late. The so called IT boom had taken its toll and was successfully luring some of the best talents for 'virtually' well paid jobs. Needless to mention I was one of its victims too.

As electronics engineer I had short-listed four career options. While an IT job was almost guaranteed, searching for a core job was still a herculean task. Realists gave their GREs and managed admits from America’s famed institutions. A handful of geeks even decided to do it the tougher way dreaming to do research in IISc and IITs. There was a fourth kind who took over their father’s business or joined b-schools. While I had no interest in doing research I was damn sure that taking an IT job was suicidal. So I decided there was no harm in giving GRE as a backup plan. But within a month's time the placements season started and I was destined to convert my very first interview with Tata Consultancy Services. I distinctly remember the way I felt about my first success that I often cherish and laugh my ass over it till now.

It’s very interesting to see how your career decisions get skewed when you realize you have a well paid job in your basket of options. Thank god I didn’t get placed with Biggies like Microsoft for I wouldn’t have realized the real ‘me’ then. Hailing from a not so wealthy family I can understand how many Indian dreams get buried under a pile of cash. Suddenly GRE seemed a costly affair and too uneconomical at least for my family situation. I didn’t want to join TCS either. It was at this juncture I had to do a serious self-introspection and was surprised why I had ruled out going for a b-school. I could ascribe three reasons for not having considered it. One, no one in my family lineage was a businessman. Two, I didn’t know what MBA can do to a person and Three, securing a seat in IIMs is the toughest of endeavours one can fancy(At least that’s what people think). I was also aware of the fact that from now on whatever silly decisions I took was to decide my entire life. So I had to be careful and swift enough in making decisions. After serious deliberation and consulting from well wishers it seemed that I was way behind from what I would do with my life and an MBA would be a professional way to identify my real passion.

Everyone knows that a work experience can always come handy and is mandatory in the west for getting admitted in a b-school. But having decided to work one has to decide what kind of experience will add value for an MBA. Now that explains why TCS suddenly became a god sent gift. I believe the kind of learning a prospective MBA aspirant gets in a services company like TCS is no less than what I would have gained in Microsoft except for the technical excellence which is of no importance to me. Of course I don’t deny the fact that a Microsoft in my profile would land me better jobs even after MBA.

Two years have gone past and when I deliberate on the events that have shaped my recent past, I am overwhelmed. I couldn’t have asked for more from God and I am about to embark on a historic odyssey to discover myself shortly. After having decided my career there was no reason to turn back. I went on to enroll myself for the best coaching available and I made sure I left no stone unturned since it was a make or break situation to me unlike my friends who had been giving CAT from college days. There was no room for second chance. The good old preparation days are unforgettable. Now I am all done with my hardwork and its upto the institutes to say whether i am worth it.

If you didn't know, companies like TCS and Infy are the breeding grounds of future leaders. One won't be astonished to find someone from the next cubicle sitting for CAT. One gets to meet different people from different cultures and different walks of life with different needs and wants. TCS is the place to understand Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. You get to decide what you want to be there. You will find achievers yearning for big things in life and poor souls dreaming for onsite( no intention to hurt anybody) co-exist with seamless integrity. The corporate experience has indeed been earth shattering and enlightening as well. In the sense, it has given me a taste of the real bad world out there.

Was it all clockwork carefully wound by Him?? Or is it a mere coincidence that things have been getting better and better? According to Second Law of thermodynamics things left undisturbed should get more unordered everyday. In short the entropy should always increase. If my guess was right the day Murphy wakes up should not be too far. By the time he does I should be inured enough to take on any uncertainties in life.

A detailed dissertation of my encounters with the third kind in TCS will be followed up in the following blog.