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Set of four overlays in assorted patterns, crisp and  beautifully textured. Format: JPEG files at 300 dpi.- Full size 12×12 inches License: commercial use, no credit required.

Keywords: overlays, high resolution textures, pattern overlays, textured overlays, grunge, vintage

Just uploaded this new set of overlays perfect to make digital papers in a flash. Commercial license included in the price. They are available in  our stores. I hope you like them! I’m going to be busy all next month so I will not be uploading many products, but I’ll be trying to upload something new every week and get you some freebies.

Thank you for dropping by!

Hi there! Overlays are digital files, in general JPG or PNG used to add texture and change the look of your pictures. You can also use overlays to make your own background papers.

The following picture show how a photo changes when you apply an overlay, one side of the picture is covered by the overlay layer and the other half is not

This tutorial is for PHOTOSHOP users, and works as far as I know, in all versions of Photoshop. You will need: 1- Photoshop software: if you do not have it yet, you can safely download a free trial from the manufacturer ADOBE . Here is the link where you can download Photoshop Elements 7. 2-Digital overlays: to make this tutorial I used my sets ANTIQUE WALL OVERLAYS and AGED OVERLAYS both available in my store. 3-Digital picture or digital paper you want to embellish, in this tutorial we will create a paper from scratch so you do not need the paper.

TUTORIAL 1- Open a new layer in Photoshop with the following settings:  COLOR MODE: if you will design an artwork to be used in web design choose RGB color mode, and if you want to design for printing purposes you may want to use CMYK color mode. This is because RGB mode will show a lot of bright colors in your screen; but remember;  not all those colors will be available in your printer device (to learn more about RGB and CMYK click here)

2- Fill the layer with the desired color or gradient: 3- Open the overlay file you want to use, and just make sure to place the overlay layer above the color layer:

4- With the overlay layer selected, open the blendind modes dialog. You will find this dialog on the top of the LAYER BOX , set at its default “NORMAL” (see the yellow circle above) that is what you will change, choose for example  LUMINOSITY. Each blending mode will give you a different effect, you have to play around here and explore until you find the effect you are happy with.

5- This is what is going to happen, see the overlay turned into the color of the layer underneath, but, not only that, each color in the overlay, will change in a different way as you change blending modes, that’s why you need to play around a lot here. See how LUMINOSITY looks here:

And see how different COLOR BURN looks here: You can also change the opacity: with the overlay layer selected reduce the opacity to obtain more effects.    NOW LET’S SEE HOW THE OVERLAY CAN CHANGE THE LOOK OF YOUR PICTURES 1- Start opening the picture you want to embellish, then bring in the overlay you want to use. The overlay is going to be large, 12 x 12 inches, so you may want to resize it before, go IMAGE/IMAGE SIZE and set the new size which will have to be around the size of your picture (do not save this settings when you close the overlay file). Your screen will look like this: 2- Now follow the steps described above, just play around with blending modes and opacity. As you can see, the overlay will add texture and design elements to your pictures, after a little bit of practice you will know exactly how to achieve the effect you are looking for. The following is the result of LINEAR LIGHT blending mode at 100% OPACITY, but see how much texture you’ve got here: 3- You can also colorize the overlay, to do that, set the foreground color in the color you want the overlay to be; then select the overlay layer and click CTRL+U to open the HUE SATURATION dialog, a window will open, check the option COLORIZE and then slide the hue and saturation controls, play around to find what you like. This is going to change the appearance of your photos, some settings will look really fantastic, there is no recipe here, it all depends on the colors of your picture. See how my picture turned into washed shades of green and light blue., and also how the overlay added a lot of texture. 4- Another trick, is open a brush, set the brush box in CLEAR, and “pierce” the overlay layer like so: Explore and play around with these effects, you will find many different results you will love. Add drama and mood to your photos, overlays are an excellent tool to help the visual communication and impact of your pictures. Remember you have just one second to catch the attention of your future customers! I hope you liked this tutorial!

Love,

Lil Copyright 2009 Lilian Ellaboudy Picture used to demonstrate this tutorial from MICROSOFT WINDOWS VISTA SAMPLE PICTURES Brush used to pierce the overlay http://graphics-illustrations.com/

Floral designs

Find these two new designer tools in my store, commercial use ok .

Thanks for looking!

Love, Lil