For this project I took a digital photo of a geranium in my garden.
With Photoshop, I masked out the unwanted background from my image with the Quick Selection Tool.
Masked image with background removed
I created a new canvas -- 1150px x 150px, 300 ppi and added some Guide Lines, then pasted the geranium into my new canvas and copied the layer a few times with Ctrl+J.
Using Edit > Transform, I scaled and rotated layers until I got a pleasing result. With the Eraser Tool and a soft brush, I subtracted a bit more from the left side of my canvas to make room for an HTML text overlay.
Using Edit > Transform, I scaled and rotated layers until I got a pleasing result. With the Eraser Tool and a soft brush, I subtracted a bit more from the left side of my canvas to make room for an HTML text overlay.
I linked the 3 geranium layers and applied a Filter from the Filter Gallery. I decided to use Stylize > Glowing Edges for this project. Feel free to experiment with alternate filters and settings.
Next, I added a fill color to my background layer and then double-clicked to add some Style Effects. I chose a Gradient Overlay to give some depth to my canvas.
Image with Glowing Edges Filter and background layer with Gradient Overlay
Final touches. I brought in a night sky layer from another project and gave it a fill value of 46%.
In terms of stacking order, the night sky layer falls above the background Gradient Overlay and below everything else.
Lastly, I added a vector lady bug and my signature.
In terms of stacking order, the night sky layer falls above the background Gradient Overlay and below everything else.
Lastly, I added a vector lady bug and my signature.
Voila, Tropical Night submitted to the Muse Banner Design Challenge.
Banner image with Muse forum overlay