How to Make a Professional Background With Adobe Photoshop

Some people are intimidated by sophisticated design programs like Adobe Photoshop, but they don't have to be. Photoshop can be used for a variety of purposes, for photography editing to creating promotional materials and designing websites. You can also use Photoshop for simple projects like designing a professional background image for a website or resume.

Instructions

1. Launch Adobe Photoshop and open a new file. Go to the File drop-down menu and select "New." The program will prompt you to customize the size of your canvas. If you are designing a background to be used on the Web, set your document height to 800 pixels and width to 1000 pixels. Set the resolution to 72 dpi (dots per inch) and click "OK" to build a scroll-able webpage.

   If you want to create a background to be used on a letter-sized document, set you're the resolution to 300 dpi (dots per inch) and enter 8 inches into the width field and 10.5 inches into the height field and press "OK."

2. Select "New Layer" from the Layer drop-down menu to begin designing your background. Name this layer "graphics." Newer versions of Photoshop allow users to name layers by double clicking on the layer in the floating layer palette. For older versions, go to the Layer drop-down menu and select "Layer Properties".

3. You may already have an idea of how you want your background to look, but In most cases you will want to stay away from using graphics that are brightly colored or too busy. The key to making a professional background is subtlety. There are two ways to add graphics to your canvas. You can use the custom shape tool to select pre-loaded shapes and swirls, or you can pull in images from other files. To pull in images from other files, go to the "File" drop-down menu, select "open" and select the image you wish to use. The file should open in another Photoshop window allowing you to drag the image over to your background canvas. Use the Move Tool (black arrow) to move items across the page.

4. Once you've added your graphic elements you will need to tone them down so that they look professional. Most designers use the transparency effect to turn graphics into a watermark. Individually select each of your layers in the layer palette and reduce the layer opacity to 50 percent. Most versions of Photoshop allow users to manipulate opacity with a slider in the layer palette. This will mute the background and allow for optimal readability.

5. Save your background as a .psd file so that you can come back and make changes later. Then save again as a .jpg, using the "Save As" method. Saving your image as a .jpg allows for maximum compatibility between computers.

References

• www.photoflashgraphics: background tutorial

Resources

• www.photoshop-tutorials-plus: photoshop backgrounds