First, I’m a pretty basic Adobe Photoshop user. I’ve been using it since back in the day when it used to just have a version number, not a CS before it, like back in the time of Photoshop 5.0 (1999 I think). I’ve used it for web design and graphic design mostly but every once in a while, I’ll touch up a photograph or just mess around with it. There have been all kinds of changes in the designing world that have seen trends go through such as vintage looks, trendwhore looks, grunge, and many more. But I never really went past what I would call normal usage. However, my skills were beyond that of many others as was apparent in college when I took two graphic/web design classes in which Photoshop was the focus. I would quickly finish assignments of designing logos and website templates in half the time as others in the class.

But, some of these hidden gems and tricks are way beyond anything I knew was possible with the software or anything that I had ever thought about doing. So without more rambling, let’s dive into some very cool tips. Also – a big thanks to Adobe and Bryan O’Neil Hughes for hosting the session for a such a small group of college bloggers.

One feature that I have used a little bit which I would always get frustrated with was the clone stamp. This would basically allow you to clone different areas of your image to use them in other places. This was helpful on a small scale for taking out cracks in a scanned image or removing part of a photograph that you didn’t want to be there. Now in CS5 there is a cool Content Aware Fill feature that lets you do this same thing but on a larger scale and much more efficiently to fix large areas of an image. Check out this video below from Adobe on how to use the Content Aware Fill feature.

Another feature that links to the Content Aware Fill feature is the Spot Healing Brush to remove lines or similar paths from an image. This cool tip is highlighted in the video below.

Photoshop has tons of these awesome videos post on YouTube and their site. A couple quick responses for you are below.

• Bryan O’Neil Hughes is a Senior Product Manager at Adobe and creator of these videos – http://www.photoshop.com/people/bryan
• The full Photoshop YouTube channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/Photoshop?feature=watch
• Adobe Labs – http://labs.adobe.com/

Also, if you thought that Phtoshop was just for editing images – you are wrong, you can also edit video within Photoshop CS5.

Adobe is working on so many cool features for Photoshop it’s hard to keep up with! Such as Tutorial Builder – go check that cool one out!

Don’t forget about the crazy cool discounts that students and educators can get on Adobe Photoshop and other programs as well. Check it out on the Adobe website.

But, for the developers out there that may be looking to get even more out of their money and have access to a good number of themes for a great price, then there is someone new (at least new to me) on the block that can help you. Elegant Themes is a premium WordPress themes club or membership site similar to WooThemes.

I’ve downloaded a couple of the themes and am currently working with them on a new simple WordPress site that I’m launching shortly. However, everything has been vary smooth and similar to customizing any othere theme you may find.

What You Get From Elegant Themes

Each WordPress theme comes expertly coded in valid XHTML and CSS, and all are made compatible with the latest version of WordPress. I make sure that each template performs flawlessly in each of the most widely used browsers to insure maximum functionality. Furthermore, all sidebars are made widget ready for your convenience.

From The Elegant Themes Creator

I created this website to provide WordPress themes of quality and integrity. I craft my themes with a goal of simplicity and professionalism and strive to inject each design with a dose modest elegance. Each of my WordPress themes come widget ready and coded in valid xhtml 1.0 transitional and css. Every theme is made in compliance with the latest version of WordPress, and are compatible with Firefox 3.0, Internet Explorer 7/6, Safari, Opera, and Netscape. I believe that your website is not just a tool, it is an integral part of your identity. My job is to respect each customer by providing attractive and userfriendly templates that will help you achieve your online goals.

Going back through the blog at Elegant Themes, it looks like either a new theme is released almost every month or substantial updating is done to the current ones by adding in more options and other features. So I think it is safe to say that the Elegant Themes site is going to be around for a while and at the price of only $19.95 for A YEAR you really can’t go wrong.

Check it out and sign up today!

If you are not following Michael Dunlop, then you flat out need to be! Michael is a great young entrepreneur from the U.K who is making big moves. His site RetireAt21.com is an amazing resource for young entrepreneurs and student entrepreneurs, as well as older entrepreneurs alike!

I had the chance to meet Michael while he was in Washington D.C. for Yanik Silver’s Underground 5 conference a couple weeks back. I’ve been following Michael’s journey for the last couple years so when the opportunity to meet up arose, I was happy to make the 45 minute drive!

Michael is a very dedicated and focused young entrepreneur who is really looking to help others be successful and then allowing success to come to him.

During our two hours of hanging out in the lobby, we conversed about blogging, making money online, traffic generation, new projects coming down the pipe, and much more. I also wanted to catch Michael on video, so here is a quick bio of himself as well as what his top suggestion for young entrepreneurs is! Check it out and let me know your thoughts!

Also, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/retireat21!

Here’s a quick video I got of Michael sharing his tip for starting an interent business.

That means that they sell premium WordPress themes, and also offer membership into their themes club. Membership offers you the chance to have access to all of their themes over a 3 or 6 month period, whichever you prefer, rather than purchasing each theme separately. This is a great advantage to the designer/developer because you can sign up and download any current and future themes that come out during your membership period.

I’ve been looking for an effective way to redesign 3-5 WordPress sites of mine and WooThemes has come up to be the answer. Their current inventory features over 17 different themses that range the categories of business, personal, CMS, lifestream, news, and portfolio. With so many choices, this gives you the easy opportunity to try out a lot of different options – and I like options.

So, I signed up. Yupp, I did it. I joined the club. Adii, I hope you’re happy and are enjoying my money. So far I am enjoying the site, so lets keep it that way.

Here is what their subscription options look like:

The thing that I really liked was being able to easily have a wide range of themes to choose from and further customize to meet my needs. If you are an internet entrepreneur and have a lot of WordPress based websites or are looking to launch many, then you definitely need to check out WooThemes and consider signing up.

The sites I’ll be using themes on from the guys at WooThemes include the new ChrisPund.com, ProfessionalGFX, Dorm Room Biz, and more possibly. So, keep a look out for lots of changes coming about soon!

As I get closer to being finished with customizing some of the sites, I will start posting about it and giving some screenshots.

That is why getting a new logo created for ProfessionalGFX was one of the first things I wanted to do. Now, ProfessionalGFX is a web development business also offering many graphic related services. But, I did not create my own logo. Mainly because I was tapped for ideas and wanted a fresh set of eyes (or in this case many sets) on the business and concept. So, I looked to outside sources.

My first thought was to hire a logo designer but I didn’t want to be strapped to using just one person and a limited number of revisions. So, the next obvious option in outsourcing design work is to hold a contest, which is one of my favorite things to do. Outsourcing design work when possible is such a time savor that you can not deny giving it a shot.

Yet, there are a lot of design competition websites out there. You’ve got 99designs, CrowdSpring, and many more smaller ones. 99designs is definitely the most popular one out there, but can be a bit expensive depending on the value of your competition. Through Twitter I found CrowdSpring and decided to give them a shot.

I laid out what I was looking for in a logo, what it was going to be used for (business cards, letterhead, etc) and also laid out some of my specifications. With that, it was up to the designs to come up with ideas and I provided the critique. There were over 70 entries in the contest which included unique designs and revisions.

In the end I decided on the logo below.

New ProfessionalGFX Logo

I wanted to keep the swoosh type look that was in my previous logo but wanted to switch the color up and wound up with a nice green (reminds me of money!). I also like the incorporation of the swoosh in the GFX lettering.

Up next in this series about rebranding a web development business, I’ll quickly discuss some business card design tips and reasons for having a business card.

Anyway, I’ve decided that I am basically going to completely rebrand the whole business and go the whole 9 years – new logo, business cards, lettehead, website, print materials, etc. Over the next few weeks as I wrap up this process I am going to be posting about it, the experiences I’ve had, and any issues I’ve come across.

Completely rebranding a business can be a tricky thing. Especially if you are a well established company, with a number of clients, and already successful. Well, ProfessionalGFX is on the way to that, but not there yet – which is why I have no issue with doing this sort of on the fly in a sense. Although my business has been around for a while, my core group of clients continues to stay small and my work focused on them. However, it is time to expand and branch out, helping more businesses, and developing more relationships. So, I’ll be blogging about that too!

Keep a look out either later today or tomorrow for the first post about the new logo for ProfessionalGFX!

So, what plugins do you use for your site?

I currently have installed:

• Akismet (of course)
• All In One SEO
• DealDotCom
• Gregarious
• OIOPublisher
• Subscribe To Comments
• Text Link Ads
• What Would Seth Godin Do

Share with everyone in the comments what plugins you use on your WordPress site!

Along that note, Shoemoney posted a bunch of tips for running successful contests the other day. Many of these I followed, but a couple I hadn’t thought about – like what the local laws say about running a contest. Anyway, if you are thinking about running a contest on your blog or website, check out the tips that Jeremy put together!

If you check out sites like Dream Templates you will see the wide range of templates that are available. Another great feature of many of the template websites like Dream Templates, Template Monster, and others is that they offer an affiliate program. If you have a website, this would be a great extra income earner for you. Promote the high quality templates that are available for download or purchase at these sites and then you can even earn some extra commission from them.

Having a high quality and great looking website is a very important need today within the internet. First, if you business is not on the net, then you need to get with the times and set up a website for your business. Feel free to contact me about my website design services. If your business is on the web, then you need to make you sure that you have a great looking website. Using a free template is your opportunity to make that happen if you have a small budget and can not afford to higher a full design company or service.

Just doing a quick Google search will give you plenty of results to keep you busy for a long time while looking for free high quality templates and even templates that are for sale. If you are in the market for a premium WordPress theme, I would suggest checking out the themes at WooThemes or Solostream. Both post some incredible themes and I know they are high quality for the cost of them!

What do you guys think about using website templates on your site as opposed to having a custom design?

A collaborative effort by Adii, Magnus Jepson, Mark Forrester and Elliot Jay Stocks, I can only imagine what kind of success WooThemes is going to be. With some already great looking themes designed and out there, it is hard to think that they will be able to out do themselves and create something even better.

The concept of WooThemes is great also – you sign up and pay for three or six months membership and get access to any and all themes that are already available and then any that launch during your time as a member. Sounds good doesn’t it? The only better part is the reasonable price! A single user subscription will get you access to over 10 themes right away and more on the way, for only $150.00! Each theme was previously selling at $50+, so this is a great deal for you.

I sent a twitter out to @adii to find out what the hardest part of setting up and launching WooThemes was an his simple reply was “woothemes = blood, sweat, and tears” If you are looking for an indepth follow up on the process of launching WooThemes, keep an eye out on Adii’s site.

Congrats goes out to the guys for a successful launch today!