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Hello all, as you may have guessed from the tiltle of my post, I'm EXTREMELY new to PhotoShop. ;\
My question is very simple, I'm just trying to create a new background color for an image using CS or ImageReady (which ever one works better), then adding depth to the forground image so that it appears to jump out at you, not in an extreme way, more subtle, to be exact.
I want to apply a black background, make it stand, without actually altering or distorting the image itself. It's for a friend of mine who is a DJ, and wants a banner created to display across the front of a table where he'll have equipment resting on.
The image needs to be 24"x58"( 2'x5'). I would also like to ask, how best is it to save that image to a disk, to have it enlarged at a place like Kinko's, without pixelization. I have attached the actual image.
Thanks in advance, your help is most appreciated.
Edit: I'll post back the results here of what I've done with that image, with what ever help you can provide.
While it is a simple question, I'm afraid there is no simple answer. First problem that I see is that your original graphic isn't proportioned to fit a 2' X 5' size. Do you intend to have it centered? Next is the issue that the original drawing relies heavily on the white background so it isn't that simple an issue to just put it on a black background without having the image look awfully rough.
Next there is the issue of file size. You would have to check with Kinko's to find out the DPI (dots per inch) required by their printing process. I would hazard a guess that it may be 150 dpi. In that case, presuming you are not going to distort the image, the size would be something like 22" high by 28.3" long. You would best work with an image size in Photoshop which is approximately 3300 x 4245 pixels (or there about). You're Photoshop file is inches X DPI required by the printer. That will avoid pixilation of enlargement.
Then is the issue of you're desire to make it 'stand out' from the background. Very often this effect is accomplished by giving the image an outer bevel and/or a drop shadow. The drop shadow is out because of the black background and I tried a quick test image and the bevel or emboss didn't look good against the hand drawn image. So I tried an outer glow just to set the image off from the background and to keep the fade into the white even, rather than rough. Here's the result.
So, your first task is to figure out how big you can scan your original image. The closer a hardware scan can get you to your final size the better. Then you have to select the image and remove the white and figure out the effect you want in order to make the image look good against a black layer.
Honestly, although it seems a simple question, it isn't quite that simple although by no means impossible. Very often what someone wishing a banner would do is to take your original drawing and recreate it in Illustrator for purposes such as you desire. The there is always the possibility of obtaining the banner material and hand painting it with vinyl paints.
Welles, first off, thanks for your quick reply and generous help.
[righton]
That's actually quite where I wanted to go with that image, it's a WHOLE lot better than where I could get it.
I just need to know how you did that? I can't, for the life of me, even create a background or layer, then have each merged together as one. I've been busting my brains out just to figure out the step-by-step process of working with layers.[confused] It's the only thing, for now, that's keeping me in a endless loop with CS. Can I bother you to put up a simple illustration of how it's done? \:]
Just a quick note. I've got to leave for a business appointment in a minute or two. I'll be back this afternoon (about 5 hours from now) and then provide you some real directions.
So much for five hours. My work stretched to fill the whole day! Anyway, this is how I went about manipulating your image.
The first step I took was to select the drawing. Now if you are a beginner with Photoshop, making selections is one of the most important tasks there is. Selections can be made with any number of tools or combinations of any or all of them. In this case I had to figure out which tool would probably give me the best start and then refine the selection with additional tools. I chose the Magic Wand Tool with a tolerance of 5 and anti-aliased checked to begin the selection. Clicking on the white provided a selection which got most of the white area but also included a number of pixels in the image itself. After the basic selection tool has been used it is time to add and subtract from the selection. You add by using any of the selection tools while holding down the Shift Key. You subtract by using the tools while holding down the Option (Alt on a PC) key.
On your image I used the Polygonal Lasso Tool and with a process of Option (Alt) or Shift key holding while using that tool, I added or subtracted from the selection until I had all the white space around the image selected. Zooming in and out on an image allows for more control of creating selections.
At that point I wanted to make it transparent by erasing (Delete) those white pixels. You can't erase all or part of the image of a background layer as a background layer is locked and has to be completely opaque. The way around that limitation is to double click on the background layer in the Layers Palette which will bring up a Properties dialog. Clicking OK will rename the layer to a default of Layer 0 and turn it into a floating layer which allows transparency. Now you can eliminate the white background by using the delete key and your laboriously created selection.
Next make a new layer by going to the layers plaette and clicking on the little new layer icon at the bottom of the palette (next to the trash can). Drag the new layer below your image and fill it with black. You'll see that there is a fringe of white pixels all around your image which looks ragged. I chose to make that go away and accentuate the image by adding an outer glow. Double click on your image layer and a Layer Style dialog comes up. Check the Outer Glow check box to make it active and then click on the words Outer Glow to bring up the options window. You'll see that there you pick the color and size of the Outer Glow. I changed the default yellow to white and goofed around with the size sliders until I thought the effect was OK.
At this step you will see that the black of the Entertainment isn't really black at all but really grey. I darkened the text by copying it to a new layer above the image layer and using a blend mode of multiply. Copying it was a process of making the image layer the active layer, creating a rough selection around just the 'Entertainment' letters with the polygonal selection tool and then, while holding down the Option (Alt) key, clicking within the selection on the transparent portion with the Magic Wand tool. Once the selection was finished I used Layer > New > Layer Via Copy which created a new layer above the active one with the work Entertainment. I changed the new layer's blend mode to multiply which made the word very dark.
Turnon the outer glow layer style again and there you have it!
Thanks Welles, I really appreciate you taking the time out to provide me with that generously thorough explanation. I'll be a master at this before long, thanks to guys like you, who are part of sites like this that provide a great wealth of information for us newcomers. :}
Father of all Newbs.......... 
Linear Mode
