Looking for a simple but still appealing free icon set for social media this morning and found this. Just what I needed!

Click here for the free icon sets.

5 Must Bookmark Websites for Web Developers.

Click here for source article.

A pretty code writeup on writing better CSS. Click below for the source article.

Tips to write better CSS code.

Here is a pretty decent list of online tools that are useful to the web design crowd.

Click Here For The Article

I was referred to this CSS framework, and must say it is very useful. Cuts down the CSS time considerably! Click below for the download.

Blueprint CSS

Miniature faking in Photoshop is a easy, and fun way to make an ordinary image look like a scale model. Simulating the shallow depth of field (the out of focus area of the picture) in Photoshop makes the scene appear much smaller than it really is. As most scale models are viewed from above, pictures taken at an angle looking down tend to have greater impact with this technique (think sporting events from the top seats). This rule is not implicit however, and I am going to demonstrate on a level viewed image. There are some very good examples of this technique here. Deviant Art Tilt Shift Examples

I am going to start with this image of a grave I took at the start of summer in a small mountain town near Buena Vista, CO.

To start, click on quick mask mode on your tool palette, or type Q on your keyboard to enter quick mask mode.

Now, choose the gradient tool, and choose reflected gradient as the gradient option.

Draw a vertical line with your gradient tool on your image, starting near where you want your focus. This may take a little playing around with after we apply the blur. If you are not happy with the focus point later, revisit this step.

Now, exit quick mask mode, by clicking on your tool palette or typing the Q button again. You should now have two areas showing selected, both outside of the area you want focused.

Now we will apply the blur, by going to Filter > Blur and selecting Lens Blur.

You can fiddle with the sliders here and see what looks best. I used radius:41, blade curvature:10, brightness:22 and threshold: 255.

You should now have your image, in miniature. If you are not happy with your point of focus, revisit the gradient step, and try moving it around a bit. Here is the finished picture.

I am doing a small series of free mini site templates. Feel free to use them as you will. Please leave the credit intact, and a link to my website. Click on the image below to see it full size and download.

Interesting write up on creating a typographic wallpaper. Click below for the original article.

Create A Great Typographic Wallpaper In Photoshop

When I sat down to begin writing a tutorial for my four favorite image sharpening techniques, I realized about halfway through my first one that I was going to need to split them up. Otherwise I would risk having a post so long nobody would finish reading it. So now, having finally completed them all, we have my four favorite Photoshop sharpening techniques.

1. High Pass Sharpen
This is my favorite, and possibly the most flexible of the four. I nearly always use this sharpen, and often use another alongside it.
1st of 4 Useful Photoshop Sharpening Techniques
Click the image for a full size view.

2. Luko USM
This sharpen is good for adding a little contrast back in to an image, where others sometimes diminish it. Very useful, especially in landscapes or portraits.
2nd of 4 Useful Photoshop Sharpening Techniques
Click the image for a full size view.

3. Adamus Sharpen
This sharpen is great, but does not translate to print very well at all. Best as a web only solution. Click the image for a full size view.
3rd of 4 Useful Photoshop Sharpening Techniques
Click the image for a full size view.

4. LAB USM
This is a subtle sharpen, that helps diminish the haloing that can occur with normal Unsharp Mask. Click the image for a full size view.
4th of 4 Useful Photoshop Sharpening Techniques
Click the image for a full size view.

Digital photographs are a little soft by nature. Most require at least one pass of sharpening, and often require more than one to look their best on the web. In this tutorial, I am going to show you the LAB Color Mode sharpen technique. This is a more subtle sharpen, that has a little more control over haloing and artifacts than a simple Unsharp Mask.

4. LAB Sharpen
After you have finished processing your image, make a single layer copy of the visible image by doing a “Stamp Visible” command (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E).

Now take the layer that was created by the Stamp, and duplicate it to a new image. To do this, go to Layer > Duplicate Layer and choose New in the Destination drop down.

Next, change the Color Mode to Lab by going to Image > Mode and picking Lab.

After you change to LAB mode, select the Lightness Channel. When it is selected your image should appear black and grey.

Now, apply your Unsharp Mask by going to Filter > Sharpen and select Unsharp Mask. Once that is open, start adjusting your sliders. There is no set number that will work for your image, but a good range to try is Amount between 75 and 150, Radius between 1 and 3 and Threshold between 0 and 2. For this example I used Amount 102, Radius 1.8 and Threshold 2.

At this point you can either change it back to RGB Color mode (Or whatever you used for the main image) and save it if you are happy with it, or you can copy this layer back to the original and work with masks to get it a little cleaner.

I am going to just convert back to RGB Color Mode by going to Image > Mode and picking RGB Color.

And here is the before and after. Click on the image for a larger view.