“What is a polaroid?”

A Polaroid is an instant camera with self developing film. When people refer to a “polaroid” they are referring to the picture taken with this instant camera.

Task: For the “About” section of your personal blog, you will create a “polaroid” of yourself cropped from a picture taken in class.

**Must haves: Be square, have name, show face, sun is at top left, background color matches theme.

POLAROID TUTORIAL

Grab a picture of yourself.
 
PREPARE THE CANVAS & THE PICTURE

1. Open the picture in photoshop.
2. Using the [Crop Tool] – Crop in the shape of a square an interesting portion of the picture.
3. (hold shift down to make square)
    
4. Resize this picture to be 150px by 150px, 72dpi
5. [Image -> Image Size] or [Right Click the Title Bar of your image -> Image Size]
6. Create a seperate canvas by going to [File -> New] set this canvas to 250px by 250px, 72dpi
7. Choose a background color for this canvas and fill it using the [fill tool]
    
8. Make sure both your picture and your canvas is visible in your window.
9. Move your picture on to the canvas by selecting your whole picture [ctrl - a], then using the [Move Tool] and dragging it over to the canvas. (Name this layer “Picture”)
    
    

CREATE THE “POLAROID” LOOK

Create a new layer and move it under the elephant picture.

1. Create a new layer and move it under the elephant picture.
2. Use the [Marquee Tool] and draw a white rectangle larger than the elephant picture so that it leaves a white border. To give it the real “poloaroid” look leave a larger border at the bottom than on the other sides. (Name this layer “Polaroid”)
    
3. Fill the rectangle on the “polaroid” layer white.
4. Choose a font and type your name on the larger white border at the bottom of the polaroid. (Name this layer “Name”)
    

CREATE THE REAL “3D” EFFECT (DROP SHADOW)

1. Use the [magic wand] and select the white polaroid.
2. Create a new layer and move it under the “polaroid” layer. Name this layer “shadow”
    
3. Select the new layer and feather this selection by going to [select -> feather -> enter # pixels]
4. Fill the selection on the “shadow” layer with black using the [fill tool].
5. Use the [move tool] and move the shadow so that it is as if the sun was coming from the top left.

TILT THE POLAROID – MAKE IT LOOK THROWN ON THE PAGE

1. Link the layers “picture, name, polaroid, & shadow” together by clicking the links.
2. Use the [Transform Tool] (ctrl-t) to tilt the picture as you wish.

Now, save the file as a JPG to be uploaded to your “About” page or as a PSD for later use.
 

Nice! You’re DONE!

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