This tutorial gives just a quick basis and overview of the pen tool and will hopefully give you enough understanding that you’ll be willing to delve in and start practicing yourself.  The pen tool definitely needs practice, but once you get a handle on it, you’ll find that it’s a very easy and effective tool to use in your Photoshop arsenal.

And on a quick note, I’ve still got some practicing to do when it comes to creating and producing tutorial videos.  Hopefully it’s not too apparent, but I’ll get better.  Enjoy.

To view a larger version of the video CLICK HERE.

Here we go… First, you’ll need to create a new image. Your size, dpi, color, etc is all up to you and what you want to do. For this example, I created a 5×5 album page with a 0.25 inch bleed edge on each side.

Now, this is where I choose to do a little work up front. I set up my guides.

Go to your toolbar: View -> New Guide

You’ll want to set up vertical and horizontal guides depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. For this one, I set up my bleed guides at 0.25 inches and 5.25 inches both vertically and horizontally.

I also wanted 0.25 inches from the edge of the page to any images and 0.25 inches between the images. This takes a little math sometimes. Here’s my guides set up.

Okay, now that my guides are set, it’s pretty easy from here. Go to your shape tool and choose your shape. I chose a rounded rectangle with a 40 pixel radius for this shape. Making sure my foreground color is black, I draw a shape in the top left hand corner using my guides to know where to begin and end the shape.

You can then draw the rest of your shapes. Here I drew three more so that I’d have an even page.

Okay, now your template is pretty much complete as far as the template goes. If you want, you can save it as a PSD now with template in the name.

The rest of it is using clipping masks to put your images in.

Select the Shape 1 layer. Drag and drop your image onto the layer and it will create a new layer right above the Shape 1 layer. I rename it Image 1.

Then you right-click the new layer with the image on it and select Create Clipping Mask.

That’s it. Now you can move the image, resize it, do whatever needs to be done to get it how you like it.

Continue to add images by selecting the next shape layer where you’ll want the image to show, drag and drop, create clipping mask, rinse and repeat as necessary.

You can also save your PSD here for the template and just add new images on the already clipped layers. Either way, that’s one way to create a template.

Color correction, like many other things in Photoshop, is something that can be accomplished in different ways.  This way isn’t the only way, it isn’t necessarily the best way, and it’s only ever just a way to get you close.  If you’re working on your own images, then you’ll have to rely on your memory to know what the colors should look like or how you’d like them to look.

The one thing you should definitely have, though, before you start trying to correct the color of your images is a properly calibrated monitor. Hope this helps you.  And if it does, then be sure to Digg it!!

NOTE: I make reference in the video to the K in CMYK standing for Kelvin.  This is incorrect.  K actually stands for the color black.

To view a larger version of the video CLICK HERE.