Windy Ridge

What you will need for this tutorial.

PSP , any version.

Image of choice. I have used a wonderful mountain picture by Jon Rattenbury. Jon's work is licensed through MPT . You need to buy a license and the images in order to use them and although the Image pack from which this particular image comes is a free one, you still need a license number to use them.

Mask by Ywonne , supplied here with her permission.

Font - Chopin Script

Let's get started

Open a new image 600 x 250 pixels at 72dpi. Flood fill with white.

Using your Selection Tool , Set at Rectangle, Draw out a rectangle from about 50 pixels in at each side, but the full height of the image:-

Now copy and paste your image as a new layer, position to your liking, then invert the selection and hit delete. Selections None.

Duplicate your image layer and close off the duplicate for now.

Make the original image layer active and look for your Distortion Effects in PSP. You need to go to the one called "Wind."

We are going to apply this effect twice, once in each direction.

The first time use the settings above, Wind Direction from Left, Strength 100.

The second time, change the direction to From Right at same strength.

On this same layer, go to Effects, Reflection , Feedback:-

On the drop down menu, find the "Stagger Lower Left" Setting:-

Leave the settings as default for this Setting, and click ok. Repeat this once more .Duplicate this layer, then mirror it, and flip it. Change the blend mode of the duplicate layer to Multiply, then merge the two reflected layers visible. Drop the opacity of this merged layer to about 75.

Open up your top image . Now find your mask in the drop down menu:-

Click ok then merge group.

Your masked image has a much softer look now, if it is too pale, duplicate it and merge the two masked layers together.

The edges of the masked layer still look quite hard against the background, so we now need to soften them a bit.

On the mask layer, go to selections, Select All, Float and Defloat:-

Now go to Selections, Modify, Feather:-

Set the Number of Pixels to 20:-

Invert this selection and hit delete twice. Selections None. merge all layer visible.

Your image should now look something like this:-

Now go to Image ,Picture Frame and find the Edge Brush Frame:-

Now add your name using a nice Font, I've used Chopin Script:-

Pick a nice colour from your image, and position to suit your taste. I chose the top left hand corner for mine. When happy with the position and size, convert your text to a raster layer. Drop shadow your text. I used:-

Vertical 1, Horizontal -1, Opacity 70, Blur 1, Colour Black.

Add your copyright, license number if applicable and taggers mark. Merge your layers and save as either a jpeg or png, to your preference.

If you wish to make a matching avatar. Find your crop tool and set it as follows:-

Set the width and height to 150 pixels. Now move the drop box around your image until you find the section you wish to use for your avatar.

Click on the Green Tick to crop the image. Add the same picture frame as before . Then add either your name or initial, the copyright (no need for the url on an avatar) , and the license number if applicable.

Merge all the layers , and save.

This Tutorial was written in April 2009.
And the concept of the tutorial is copyrighted.
Please feel free to LINK to the tutorial and/or print it out for your personal use,
but please do not copy it in any way to put online, pass out or re-write without permission.
The image you create using this tutorial is for you to do what you wish except for monetary gains or for merchandising.
© Peachies Designs and Tutorials. Any Resemblance to another tutorial is purely coincidental.