Faking the Wood Burning Look

Last week Ellen (gmae) sent me this message:

Hi Jan, The above YouTube is for wood burning in Photoshop. He talks through this way too quickly for me so it will take me a few stop and go’s to get the directions down pat to try in Elements but I can see it being great for rustic, western, and camping titles. Since its from Photoshop not Elements there are some things he says to do that may take some figuring. My first attempt not so wood burning looking. Has a lot to do with the styles he puts on at the end I think. Just an FYI if you look at this.

Well, you know how much I love a challenge! And this one was a doozy. As Ellen said, it’s all about the styles he puts on at the end. Because this tutorial is adapted from Photoshop AND a 7 minute video, there are 46 screenshots so I can show each step clearly. That doesn’t mean it’s hard or will take all day. I just want to be sure even the most inexperienced user can follow along.

I’ll be demonstrating using a word art file from Word Art World‘s Jen Arbon. The woodgrain paper is from the GingerBread Ladies‘ Cabin Fever collab kit. If you’d like to use your own text or image, the technique will be exactly the same. [Simplify your text layer though!]

To start off, I made a Copy of the word art layer. You can right-click on the layer and choose Duplicate Layer then click OK on the pop-up, or you can use the keyboard shortcut CTRL/CMD>J. [It’s been awhile since I explained the keyboard shortcuts. These are simple keystrokes that take the place of several steps using the other methods of achieving something. I use Windows, which has a CTRL key. On a Mac, it would be a CMD key. Windows uses ALT and Mac uses OPT. So when I show you a keyboard shortcut I’ll give you both Windows and Mac keys.]

Next I created a new blank layer BETWEEN the two word art layers by holding down the CTRL/CMD key and clicking on the New Layer icon [looks like a sheet of paper with a corner dog-eared] from the top left of the Layers panel. The CTRL/CMD key tells Elements to put it UNDER the active layer.

With the blank layer active, I made the layer solid white: Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color

Since I’m filling the whole layer with white the box for Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask can be unticked.

There are a couple of ways to choose a colour from the Color Picker: click on an area of a photo/paper/element with the Eyedropper tool, click on a spot inside the colour swatch or type in the colour number. Pure white is “ffffff“.

Then I Merged the white layer with the word art Copy layer: SHIFT>click on the two layers then right-click and choose Merge Layers or even simpler, CTRL/CMD>E.

Now I have three layers, with the wood paper on the bottom of the stack and the black-and-white word art layer on top as shown. I want to Select just the word art on the black-and-white layer so I CTRL/CMD>clicked on the layer thumbnail [the little image on the left of the layer in the panel] of the word art with the black-and-white layer active. See the marching ants?

I want to Modify the Selection. I clicked Select>Modify>Expand as shown.

I only want it to Expand by 1 pixel.

To fill that hairline space with black [in the foreground colour box] I clicked ALT/OPT>D and Elements did the work.

Next I Inverted the colours so the word art is white on black by just clicking CTRL/CMD>I. This tutorial has a bunch of things I’ve never tried before. This is the first one. Filter>Stylize>Wind.

This menu opens up. Make sure the Method is Wind. The Direction doesn’t matter at this point. You can see in the Preview pane what the Filter will do.

This Filter will be applied two more times. Elements will remember the last Filter used, so you can click Filter and Wind will be right at the top. Or, even easier, just click CTRL/CMD>F. Just make sure it’s applied three times in total.

This is what it’s supposed to look like. Don’t be alarmed!!

Now I’m going to do the Filter step again. Because I’m going to make a change to the settings I can’t just CTRL/CMD>F my way there.

This time the Direction has to be changed so the streaks go the opposite way.

Here’s after the first hit with the Wind Filter. The change isn’t very obvious.

So I hit it again two more times! CTRL/CMD>F and CTRL/CMD>F.

Wow! But don’t worry, that’s what it should look like!

And then I Inverted the colours again so the word art was once again black-on-white. CTRL/CMD>I.

I’m not done with Filters yet. This time I’m going to add a Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur to the mix.

But not too much of a Blur… just a Radius of 1 pixel.

The black is a bit harsh, so I clicked Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Levels. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL/CMD>L.

And I changed the Output Level from 0 to 72. That grays the black a bit, but not too much.

Remember Blend Modes? They’re such a great tool!! I changed the Blend Mode to Color Burn by clicking on that bar above the Layers panel that usually says Normal and choosing Color Burn from the dropdown list.

Now the sugars in the wood look like they’ve been caramelized!

It’s a little TOO obvious, so I dropped the Opacity of the layer to 60%.

Once again I Selected the edges of the word art by CTRL/CMD>clicking on the word art layer thumbnail with the altered word art layer active. Then I did something else I’ve never tried before… Select>Feather to soften the edges of the caramelized areas just a teensy bit.

I gave it a Feather Radius of 2 pixels. Everything about this needs a light touch.

With the edges still Selected, I added a new Fill Layer. Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color. This new Fill Layer will be the base for the next few steps.

Again, I didn’t need to tick the Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask, because only the Selected areas will be filled. On this settings menu, I dropped the Opacity of the Fill to 40%.

The Color Picker opened, and I wanted pure black. The code number for black is 000000.

After I created the Fill Layer, I Simplified it so the mask went away. Right-click on the layer and choose Simplify Layer.

Next I made 2 Copies of this black Fill Layer and turned Visibility for the top two Copy Layers off. I wanted to see what was happening to each active layer, starting with the original Fill Layer. [In Photoshop the next several steps can all be accomplished on the same layer, but Elements isn’t that skillful. Each step needs its own layer. *Where have you heard that before?*]

To the bottom Fill Layer, I added a Bevel Style. Click on the Styles button at the bottom of the Layers panel then choose Bevels. From the dropdown menu choose Simple Outer as shown. [If you hover the cursor over the thumbnails in the dropdown, a description box opens so you know what’s what.]

Each of the Styles has a default setting, but you can easily change the settings by double-clicking on the fx icon on the far right of the layer. The settings menu opens. Here I changed the Lighting Angle to 130°, the Drop Shadow settings to Size 29 pixels, Distance 13 pixels, and Opacity 22%, then the Bevel settings to 20 pixels and the Direction to Down.

Next I activated the first Copy Layer just above the layer I last worked on, but this time I chose Styles>Inner Shadows.

I double-clicked the fx icon and from the settings I made the Lighting Angle 147°, Size 50 pixels, Distance 4 pixels and Opacity 20%.

Then I changed the Blend Mode for this layer to Linear Burn.

It’s looking pretty good!

I wanted just a bit more depth to the image so I activated the top Copy Layer and from the Styles menu I chose Outer Glows.

I used Simple from the menu as shown.

After double-clicking on the fx icon, I adjusted the settings: Lighting Angle 130°, Size 21 pixels and Opacity 25%.

The Outer Glow layer looked odd on top so I moved it to the bottom of the Copy Layer stack and lowered the Opacity to 10%. This took a bit of experimentation based on what I wanted to see.

Last but not least, I turned the original word art layer’s visibility back on. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.

Some comments: The way this technique looks in the end will depend on several factors. If you use a smooth wood paper, your burned area will be smooth too. If you use a darker or lighter wood paper, you may need to fiddle with Opacity to get the looks you want. Obviously, doing this to a darker wood will result in darker burned areas, and it may be hard to see. On a lighter coloured wood, it may look too black, and again, you’d need to make some tweaks. I scrapped my work (and about 100 screenshots) 4 times before I was comfortable with this enough to show it to you. Don’t be afraid to make some of your own decisions! If you’re not happy with it, make some changes!!

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3zAdEQ4

How Can I Run an Elements+ Script on a Template?

I found this Forum post from DianeInOz that referred to a previous Blog post where I mentioned I’d had to upgrade my Elements+.

After reading a recent GS blog post, I discovered the elements + add-on and downloaded it! I have been playing all morning and searching everywhere, but I am having trouble. When I run scripts (lets say “torn edges”) and I click on a layer (say a single photo), open the script box, hit run. It runs the script on the whole layout instead of just the one layer so the edges of the 12×12 layout look torn, but the photo layer is just the normal photo.
Does anyone know if these scripts can be done on just one layer in a layout??!?

What a great question! Right away my wheels started spinning and I had to try something that I thought might work. And it DID! So I’m going to show you all what I did and hopefully it’ll help Diane too.

In my example I’m using a template from Aimee Harrison‘s Singular V.2. I’m intrinsically lazy, so if there’s a quick work-around, I’m going to find it.

After I clipped my photo to the photo spot so I’d have a frame of reference, I selected the three layers that make up the photo spot. When you want to select multiple layers that are all stacked one on top of the other like these are (or are in side-by-side order in a folder, for example), hold down the Shift key, click on the first layer then on the last layer. All the layers in between will show a blue flag in the Layers panel as shown. [If you want to select multiple layers or objects that AREN’T stacked or in order, hold down the CTRL/CMD key and click on each of the things you want to select.] Next I’m going to Duplicate the three photo spot layers. There are 2 ways of doing this. One is to right-click then choose Duplicate Layers… and the other is using the tool bar at the top of the screen, click on Layer>Duplicate Layers… Which one you use is up to you.

This dialog box opens up. Select New from the Document menu and give it a name (or don’t – it’s all up to you). I named my new document Script Layer.

And here they are! As you can see, Elements has created a new document the same size as the template, it’s kept the photo spot layers the same size as on the template, and put them in exactly the same place. This might be a valuable thing in another situation (like creating a title that will fit exactly in the spot designated for it) but for this purpose only keeping the photo spot layers the same size will be a time-saver.

Here’s where the let-Jan-do-the-experimenting-so-you-don’t-have-to aspect comes into play. When I just ran the script on the new document, it put the torn edges around the 12×12 background. Not what I want. So I tried Cropping the new document down to the very edges of the photo, on the photo layer itself.

Now on to the fun part! When you install Elements+ it embeds itself into the Elements menu so you can find it quickly. Click on File>Automation Tools>e+ Scripts.

To find the Torn Edges Script, click on the pull-down menu bar to select Edges. This menu opens and Torn Edges is near the bottom. Select it, and click on the green, rightward-pointing arrow as shown. Stand back and let E+ do its magic!

After the Script has run, this is what it has done. That solid white background might present a problem. Time to do a bit more experimenting….

Okay, I’m back. Problem solved. Onward and upward!

AHA! I can turn the visibility for all but the Copy layer E+ created of my photo, with the torn edges preserved. That means they can be Deleted.

So I did just that!

All that was left was to move the new torn-edges photo onto the template. With the original photo spot still in place, it’s just a matter of positioning the Script Layer photo and either turning off the photo spot layers or Deleting them. Another choice that’s left to you.

This tutorial only looks at a single Script. But it has applications for other purposes too, so don’t be afraid to try it if what you want to see isn’t what you’re getting. Have fun with it!

Next week – God willing we’re not under wildfire evacuation – we’re ironically enough going to play around with digital wood burning. Meanwhile, I’m praying for more rain.

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/2VYjP1U

Which Template Format is Best for You?

Let’s see how smoothly this goes. The new laptop is all set up but I’m still getting used to how it works. Forgive the haphazard formatting of my screenshots, I’m also learning to use a new version of Photoshop Elements. One thing I was thrilled to learn is that I can screenshot the little pop-up messages I see when I hover the cursor. That’s going to be helpful with tutorials going forward. You’ll see a couple of examples today!

Tanya posted this comment on last week’s tutorial:

Jan, I was wondering about template files and if you could answer my questions on those because designers list many different formats and I don’t know which is best to keep. TIFF, PSD, PNG. If you can do an upcoming article on the differences and I guess advantages or disadvantages of each type. Since it’s basically the same information, I want to optimize what I actually use storage space for. If you have already done this sort of tutorial, can you link up in the comments instead.

First, why are templates so popular? Easy! They make Working Smart Not Hard so easy! They give you a roadmap to build your layouts upon and tell you where everything goes. You can whip up a beautiful layout in very little time and if speed’s your thing, templates should be in your arsenal. But templates are NOT engraved in stone and they don’t stifle creativity, because you can do whatever you want with them.

I know I’ve talked about template formats before, but mostly in passing rather than directly. So today we’re going to look them a little more closely. I’m sure when you first started digi-scrapping, you opened up a template download and just looked at the contents in confusion. Below is an image of a template download I haven’t yet organized with my own preferred method (and yes, I DO realize it’s a year old). The only thing I’ve done with it is to extract the contents. As you can see there are a bunch of things in it: a folder labeled with the file tag PNG, an image of what the template looks like, a blank sheet of paper with the file tag .page, a Photoshop icon, another image of what the template looks like and a folder label/preview. We’ll start with the PNG folder and work our way through the template download left to right.

PNG refers to Portable Network Graphic. You’ve seen that tag on literally every element in your digi stash. PNGs are on transparent backgrounds and can be manipulated in a lot of ways. When talking about templates though. this is the most versatile format in that it’s usable on any platform. About the only thing that matters is that they show the location of an element on the finished page. Look below; each of the PNGs in the folder is on a 12×12 transparent background. And there are LOTS of them. In this template they’re numbered in reverse order from the top down. The very last PNG is the background. This method of layout building would be a real challenge for me because a) I work from the background out and b) Elements needs a “pin” for layers, something that tells it where in the layer stack a newly added item goes. It would be quite frustrating for me to have to continually reorder layers but if it’s what I had I’d make it work.

Here you can see what I mean about order. This is PNG #1, but it’s the very top item on the page – the centre of the flower in the upper left of the layout at the top edge of the larger photo. The PNG layer shows the use where on the page to put the element it’s a placeholder for.

Here you can see a couple of the layers I’ve created from the PNG files. Some layers aren’t visible, as you can see. Using the PNG method of layout building, you’d stack all of them in the correct order into layers, then replace each object with your chosen object. Then the PNG layer you’ve just replaced is either turned off or deleted.

There are more layers visible in this image. As the text describes, I’ve reordered them in numerical order to have them layering properly. In retrospect, what I’d do when using PNGs as a template would be to just stack them in reverse order to begin with, starting at the end of the queue and layering as I go. That may eliminate some of the “pinning” issues. Having a transparent background behind each of the PNG elements means PSE has no sense of how to layer things; it needs some sort of fully opaque reference or pin to orient itself.

Next in the folder is an image of the template. It’s basically a preview of the template in JPEG format – Joint Photographic Experts Group. (Don’t ask me how they came up with that as a file name. I don’t know!) It’s how we most commonly save our photos and finished layouts; one thing to bear in mind when using this format for any purpose is that it’s a “lossy” proposition. This format compresses images somewhat, and in compressing, some of the detail is lost. Each time you make adjustments to a JPEG and save it again, you’ve lost a tiny bit more of its clarity. I do like to have a 600×600 pixel JPEG of my templates to use as a “shopping list” when I’m deciding what I want to include in my layouts. For that purpose I’m not worried about sharpness.

The next item in the template folder is tagged as a .page. This format is supported by a very limited number of applications, like Storybook Creator and Artisan. I won’t pretend to know anything about this format, so I’ll link you up with a tutorial if you’re just learning either of those applications. Kate Hadfield has a good one here.

Ah. Now we can talk about the format I use ALL the time! PSD – Photoshop Document – is an Adobe Photoshop/Photoshop Elements proprietary file type that won’t open in other applications. It creates a fairly large file, in this case it’s 7.04 MB.

This format preserves all the layers and all the adjustments that have been made to those layers; this includes layer masks, fill layers, blend modes, opacity changes and layer styles, including drop shadows. That’s why the files are so weighty. When you save your layout in this format, you can go back any time and make changes – let’s say you’re planning to print your layout and you see a huge, obvious spelling error that you CAN’T leave. No problem. Open up the PSD, correct your spelling and save the corrected version in whatever format you want.

Okay, I’m going to admit I had to do some research on TIFF files. TIFF stands for Tagged Image File Format. These templates are considerably smaller files than PSDs; this template is slightly less than half the size at 2.91 MB. Many scrappers choose to only keep and use the TIFF format to save space on their hard drives.

In some ways they’re like PSDs, since they can also preserve layers and layer styles, you use them in a similar way to create layouts and neither format can be displayed as is on web platforms. UNlike PSDs they’re not proprietary and are supported by a broad range of graphics applications.

When saving your layouts as flattened (all layers merged) TIFFs rather than JPEGs, using LZW compression doesn’t result in a loss of image data, thus maintaining more sharpness and detail. This is the best way to save your layouts for PRINTING, but not for online posting because, as I said a moment ago, this format isn’t compatible with online display.

The second-to-last item in the folder is a cover page/folder label preview image. I usually don’t hang on to them but I know there are a lot of scrappers who use them. (I’d rather save the hard drive space for my PSDs.)

Last, but not least, there’s a terms-of-use document where Juli (Miss Fish) tells people how they can (legally) use her templates. Very important information!! I typically only keep one copy of each designer’s TOU, since they don’t change much over time.

So there you have it. File formats in a nutshell. I hope these descriptions help you understand them better and help you decide which format will work best for you. Happy scrapping!

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3lpO22x

Torn Paper: A Review

Last week, Glee asked if I could run another tutorial on digital paper tearing, and I’m only too happy to oblige. Since I wrote my first version of this tutorial I’ve streamlined the workflow a bit, which is always a good thing! Work Smart, Not Hard!! This technique uses only tools already embedded in the software and it’s easily achievable by even the very new learner.

Let’s think about scrapbooking paper – the physical properties of actual paper. The best-quality paper is weighty and has a white (or sometimes black) core. It might have a pattern on one side and a solid on the other. It may be smooth as satin or have a lovely texture. When I work with digital papers, my mind sees them as the very highest quality physical paper there is. So this technique will take that into consideration. The patterned paper I’ve used is from ADB Designs‘ Coastal Cottage kit. (It’s no secret that I LOVE Diane‘s papers.)

In past tutorials I’ve talked about “destructive” and “non-destructive” methods of altering digital images. With “destructive” methods, pixels are removed from the image and can only be replaced by CTRL/CMD>Z-ing back a bunch of steps. “Non-destructive” methods only hide those pixels by using a mask. They’re out of sight, not gone; they can be easily revealed again if needed. This technique is “destructive” but so is tearing paper! I’ll be using the Eraser tool with a hard, round Brush of a moderate (250 pixel diameter) size at 100% Opacity.

I don’t know about you but I can’t tear paper in a straight line without folding, creasing and using a straight-edge to tear it against. Good thing for this technique, perfect isn’t the goal. Since my imagination has told me this paper is thick and stiff, I already know the tear is going to be jagged and will expose some of the white core. With the Eraser tool, I just chewed off some of the paper.

I think I need a higher contrast between my paper and the transparent background layer, so I’m going to add a Fill Layer in black to help me see what I’m doing. You might not need this step. There are a couple of ways to Fill space: by clicking Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color or just by using the Paint Bucket tool.

If you choose the Fill Layer method, make sure that box I’ve indicated is NOT ticked. It’s not a big issue when you’re creating your torn paper as a separate project and then adding it to your layout, but if you decide to tear your paper within your layout, it will matter. Here, I want to fill the whole background with black for contrast. The layer is only temporary, but why make it harder for myself?

There. Now I can see that torn edge much better!

Now for the really creative part! Let’s add in the white core. To do that, I’m going to make a Copy layer of my torn paper. Again, there are a couple of ways of accomplishing that: Right-click on the layer and choose Duplicate Layer and then follow the prompts (I rarely use this method) or CTRL/CMD>J. [If you develop a habit of using keyboard shortcuts you’ll be amazed at how much time and how many keystrokes it saves you.]

Yes, we did JUST do this, but we’re going to do it again. Only this time I WILL use the Clipping Mask box. I want to Fill the original torn paper layer with white, but JUST the torn paper, not the entire layer. It’s easiest to just use the Paint Bucket tool, but I want to show you the options.

Yep, tick the box!

Then I want to Merge the Fill Layer with the torn paper layer (a step that’s eliminated when using the Paint Bucket… WSNH!) so I CTRL/CMD>clicked on each layer then right-clicked to open the layers menu so I could select Merge Layers. The keyboard shortcut for this step is CTRL/CMD>E.

The white core has to be visible (otherwise why have it in the first place!) so I nudged it up a bit with the Move tool. It’s a little too perfect, but we’ll fix that.

When a real sheet of heavy scrapbooking paper is torn, the white core will be exposed to varying degrees, with some wider bits and some much narrower bits. To emulate that look, I went back to my Eraser tool and nibbled away some of the white layer and some of the patterned layer too.

Okay, that’s more like it!

This step is entirely optional. Torn paper isn’t perfectly smooth, and I like to go for as much realism (with the fewest hassles) that I can achieve.  So I’ll show you how to add some texture to the white core layer using Filter>Texture>Texturizer.

There isn’t a perfect texture Filter in the toolbox, so I use Canvas. I just want a hint of irregularity on my white core and this’ll do it.

There are some decisions to be made when using Filters. Light Source is a big one. I tend to use Top Left more than anything, so that’s what I’ve chosen here. I Inverted as well, which isn’t as visible as it would be with the Burlap or Brick Textures. Scaling refers to the overall size of the deflections and Relief is how much of a vertical deviation the Filter provides.

On a computer screen this effect isn’t in-your-face-obvious, but trust me, it pops when you print your layout.

AGAIN? Why?? That torn edge of the patterned paper will cast a hint of shadow. The easiest way to add a new Layer is to click on the sheet-of-paper icon. To add a new layer this way UNDER the currently active layer, hold down the CTRL/CMD key when you click it and it’s done. Otherwise, Layer>New Layer or CTRL/CMD>SHIFT>N will add a new layer above the currently active layer, but it’ll then have to be moved under the torn paper layer.

I’m telling you, the Paint Bucket tool is such a nice shortcut! But make sure you’ve Selected the edge of the torn paper by CTRL/CMD>clicking inside the layer’s thumbnail (that little “photo”) before you dump your paint.

Just as I did for the white core layer, I used the Move tool to nudge the shadow layer up and out from under the torn paper layer. It’s pretty obvious in the image below, but I’ll Blur it a tiny bit and it’ll look much more natural.

Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur… is the ticket.

If the shadow layer is Blurred too much, it’ll just make the area where the paper and the core meet look dirty. So don’t go too far!

Now all that’s left before I’m finished is to Delete the black contrast layer and Merge the three paper layers together.

And now my torn paper is ready for use on my layout! It’s literally a 10-minute technique that really adds some interest to the image.

Thankfully the heatdome has moved on and we’re only worried about wildfires out here in the west part of North America. The eastern part is having the opposite problem, with a tropical storm dumping water and creating tornadoes. And still… COVID. I had my first vaccine last Wednesday and knew I was going to react – having had the virus I had antibodies already. I felt pretty awful for about 36 hours, and then magically felt better. The vaccine is proving its worth; 99% of the people who have died from COVID since May have been unvaccinated. Pretty good stats!

See you next time!

PDF Version: https://bit.ly/3xrgE06

Digitize your Handwriting!

Last week’s digital colouring tutorial had me thinking about how I could make better use of some of my digital stamps. If you recall, I talked about the ones with white backgrounds and how that would make the technique I showed you very difficult. So I did a little snooping and found a terrific tutorial on digitizing handwriting that would work perfectly for those stamps of mine. It’s from the blog of Kelly Leigh (herecomesthesunblog.net) and it’s easy to follow, although I’ve expanded on a few steps for the beginners in our midst. Let’s proceed!

How many of you have really wanted to have journaling in your own handwriting on your digital layouts but not had a clue how to do it? This is for you! But it’s not only good for journaling… if you’ve got some mad calligraphy skills you can create your own inspirational word art, titles and whatever your imagination comes up with. All you need are a piece of white paper and a (new) black marker. And Photoshop Elements, of course. I chose a message that resonated with me for my demo. I wrote it out on my paper; my marker had seen better days and I was writing much larger than I usually do, so it’s a little ragged looking, but as a demo, it’ll work just fine. Then I took a photo of my finished writing with my cellphone. It might have looked better and been a bit less work if I’d scanned it, but that would have meant a trip downstairs and after I’d moved my (not inconsiderable) weight in potting soil yesterday, I just didn’t want to do that.

I Cropped away as much of the paper and my countertop as I could. I wanted the demo image to be large and easy to work with so I filled the entire 8.5×11″ sheet of paper. But that wouldn’t be necessary for most applications.

Here I’ve Zoomed in on my marker so you can see how less-than-awesome it looks up close. I’ll fix it with a black brush later; I could have saved myself a lot of work by using a new marker, but I didn’t have one at hand…

But first, I want to make what black there is as black as I can, and the white as white as I can. The better the contrast, the easier the technique is. I used Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Levels for this step.

I only adjusted the Input Levels. The left-most slider adjusts the black areas; by moving it to the right, the black gets darker. The middle slider controls the midtones, and by moving it to the right as well, it helped blacken the text too. The slider on the far right brightens the white areas so it was shifted to the left.

There are still gappy areas in the text, but that’s okay.

I just used a solid round black Brush at 100% Opacity to eliminate the gaps.

Now to the good part! To eliminate the paper, I’m going to want a transparent layer UNDER my text layer. Elements won’t allow a layer to be placed under a Background. (The italics are actually displayed for all layers Elements has determined are background layers.) So to get past that, right-click on the layer and choose Layer from Background…

The dialog box that opens allows for the layer’s name to be changed, if desired. I’m not going to bother. Make sure the tick box for Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask is NOT ticked and Color is NONE.

Once that’s done, it’s possible to drop a blank layer underneath the text layer. It’s quickest and easiest to hold down the CTRL/CMD key and click on the New Layer icon at the top of the Layers Panel to create a blank layer under any other active layer. Then I don’t have to move the new layer down the stack.

Now I’m going to use the Magic Wand tool, as shown in the Tool Panel and Tool Options menu, to remove the paper. Click in the white area and it Selects a chunk of the paper. If my paper was perfectly clean and my image too was perfectly clean, this step would probably Select ALL of the paper, But my paper and image aren’t so this will take a few clicks.

Edit>Cut or CTRL/CMD>X removes all the paper that the Magic Wand Selected!

I went over the rest of the image and removed the paper. Where there are loops in my letters, the paper was a bit clingy, but after a few minutes I had all the paper removed. The edges of the text looked a little raggedy up close, so I CTRL/CMD>Clicked on the text layer’s thumbnail to Select the edges of the text then clicked Select>Refine Edge…

This menu looks intimidating but it really isn’t. Experiment a bit by pulling the sliders and watch what happens in the Preview pane. Don’t worry, the white you see here isn’t actually there, it’s only part of the Preview so you can see what the adjustments are doing.

However… this method of adjustment DOES produce a new layer with a Layer Mask attached. Also notice that the original text layer’s visibility is turned off. To make things easier, right-click on the new layer and choose Simplify Layer. That adds the layer mask to the layer.

What about the original layer? It’s not visible, and its invisibility doesn’t affect the text at all, so it can just be Deleted, either by right-clicking on the invisible layer then Delete Layer, or just by hitting the Delete key.

Again, that layer we added underneath the text layer isn’t necessary any more (although it was VITAL when we were removing the paper) so it can either be Merged (CTRL/CMD>E) with the text layer or just Deleted.

There! That’s all you need to know to digitize your handwriting, or to remove the background of a digital stamp. I spent some time cleaning up the text using the Brush tool and the Eraser tool but you might not need to do any of that.

If you want to change the text’s colour, that’s easy to do by filling the layer with your new colour. Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color 

This time check the tick box for Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask so that your new colour is applied to the text without any extra steps.

When the Color Picker opens up, go nuts! I like purple. The colour is applied to the text via Clipping Mask as you can see in the Layers Panel. 

The digitized text can also be Resized, Rotated, Warped, Skewed … whatever you want!

If you want to Save your new image, it should be Saved As a PNG so the background stays transparent. Save it to a folder where you can find it again, and give it a good name.

Compression should be Smallest/Slow so the details are preserved. And it doesn’t need Interlacing.

That’s all there is to it! I think I should digitize my signature so I can add it to documents. Give it a try!

PDF Link: https://bit.ly/2Ug19cH