To be able to create the header image you need to know how to do the following:

  • Open a picture or create a new in your software.
  • Create layers.
  • Select a part of the picture with the Magic Wand tool.
  • Erase the selected pixels.
  • Scale a picture.
  • Resize the canvas.
  • Create custom colors.
  • Pick a color from the picture.
  • View and use rulers.
  • Select font and font size.
  • Insert text in an image.
  • Move the objects and arrange them on the canvas.
  • Save a file for the web as a jpg or gif image.

You can find the GIMP manual here and for Photoshop I recommend you to use the help file that comes with the software. You can also use one of the Photoshop or GIMP tutorials I have added to my links section in the sidebar.

The Gimp Photoshop

I used the Magic Wand to get rid of the background around the flower. In this picture it was easy because of the contrast between the flower and the background. In a picture with lesser contrast you might need other tools to get rid of unwanted pixels.

The next step is to duplicate the layer and get rid of the background layer. You might not need to do this in Photoshop, depending on how you created the picture. Just make sure you have a layer with a transparent background and the rest of the process will be easy.

GIMP layer Photoshop layers

Resize the image to a 200 pixels height and 300 pixels width. In GIMP resizing an image is called Scale image and in Photoshop Image size.

Scale image in Gimp Image size in Photoshop

Scale image dialog in GIMP Image size dialog in Photoshop

Resize the canvas size to 800 pixels width, but keep the height as 200 pixels. The image is now the same size as the header. Resizing the canvas is called Canvas size both in GIMP and Photoshop

Canvas size dialog in GIMP Canvas size dialog in Photoshop


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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 24th, 2005 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Templates, Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.