Special Backgrounds

If you have a page like Baseball or Leo Club you will need to make a special background for that page. The colors and aesthetics of your background will still follow the yearbook theme, but you will add specific images related to the subject of the page. For example the Baseball page would have pictures of baseballs, bats, or gloves on it.

Follow the steps below to complete a background.

FOR CANVA USERS

Create a new custom size with these dimensions:

width = 2500 pixels, height = 3300 pixels

After creating your design save it to your computer as a PNG and skip to step 11 on this tutorial.

If you've never used Photoshop make sure you Create an Account!

STEP 1

If you haven't used an Adobe product you probably don't have an account. When you start Adobe Photoshop if you see a sign-in screen go to Step 1B below. If you don't see the sign in screen go to Step 1A.

1A - Go to the Help menu at the top of Photoshop and sign-out whoever is signed in. Photoshop will shutdown - launch it again and go to STEP 1B.

1B - You will need to make a new account by using the Create an Account link. DO NOT click continue with Google! Use your school email and password for your account so you don't forget it. The teacher can't access your password if you forget!

STEP 2 - Make a New Document

Open Adobe Photoshop.
Click File > New
Under Document Type select Custom > US Paper
Click OK

You should see a white page about the same proportions as a sheet of printer paper.

NOTE: If you have a different New File window go to Print and select Letter from the menu.

STEP 3 - Color the background

To color the background of your image select the Paint Bucket tool. If you don't see it look for the Gradient tool - they are part of the same tool set.

Next select you color by the clicking the foreground color box. This should open the Color Picker. Move the slider up and down to choose the color (hue), and click inside the box to choose the color intensity (brightness), tint (white value), and shade (black value).

The baseball selected here is good because there are no watermarks and the background is all white.

STEP 4

Do a Google search for the images you need by adding the word icon on to whatever you're searching for. You're looking for simple black and white graphics.

NOTE: Don't use any images with a watermark on them! A watermark is text or graphics that cover the image.

Once you find a suitable image right-click it and copy it. Then paste (Ctrl+V) it into your Photoshop document.

HINT: If the pasted image turns all black that means it's a PNG file. That's good! However, you can't copy and paste those from the web. You will need to right-click it and save it to your folder on your computer. Then open it in Photoshop and copy and paste it.

STEP 5 - Delete the white background and re-size

If you chose an image with a white background follow these steps. If you chose an image with a transparent background (PNG) skip to STEP 6.

Select the Magic Wand tool. Click on any white areas you want to delete from your image.
Press Backspace on your keyboard to delete the white area.
If done correctly all the white areas should be deleted.
Press Ctrl+D to deselect the area you just removed.
You can use the eraser to clean up any missed areas.

Re-sizing an Image

If your object is too big press Ctrl+T to re-size it.
After resizing press Enter or double-click to apply the changes.

STEP 6 - Coloring objects

On the Layers window click the FX button and select Color Overlay from the menu. (If your layers aren't visible press F7)

You can select the color your want by clicking the small colored box next to blend mode. Use this to color your objects!

STEP 7 - Duplicating objects

Next you will need to duplicate your object. Simply drag the layer to New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers menu.

You can also change the color of your objects by double-clicking Color Overlay and selecting a new color.

STEP 8 - Rotating

You can also rotate your objects. Make sure you have the correct layer selected then:

Press Ctrl+T. Move your cursor to the corner until you see the curved arrows. Then rotate.
Press Enter or double-click to apply the changes.

STEP 9

Repeat the process from steps 8 and 9 to create a background similar to the example. When you're ready to save it and go to the next step.

STEP 10 - Saving

When finished go to File>New>Save a Copy...
Make the filename BG_the name of your page. So for example the baseball image is named BG_baseball because it's for the baseball page.
You need to save this image on your computer. If a window pops up asking to save it to the Adobe Cloud choose your computer!

STEP 11 - Uploading to School Annual

Login to School Annual and upload your completed background to the Background folder. Make sure you've selected your JPEG file!

STEP 12 - Placing on Your Page

Go your page.
Right-click on the page background and select Change Background
Choose your image and you're done!
Don't forget to write down your completed background on your freelance sheet. Make sure you include the name or page number that it's on.