How to create a computer wallpaper in Photoshop CS4

When customizing a computer, one of the first things to be changed is usually the theme or the background wallpaper. You can find many free wallpapers online, but sometimes you might want to create your own. In this tutorial, we're going to look at how to make color adjustments, abstract lines, and a simple composition in Photoshop CS4 to help you learn how to create your own computer wallpaper.

The first thing you need to do is find out your screen resolution (size). This works a bit differently in Windows Vista and 7 than it did with XP or earlier. To change the desktop in Windows XP or earlier, right click on the desktop and choose Properties. Then click on the Settings tab and you should see your screen resolution. In Vista or 7, right click on the desktop and choose Personalize. Then find the option Display in the lower left hand corner of the Control panel window. Once the Display window shows, look over on the left-hand pane and click on Adjust Resolution. You'll be able to see your screen resolution from there. Mine is 1900 x 1200, so I make note of this and exit the control panel window.

Find the picture you want to use in the background of your wallpaper. For this picture, I've decided to use a bokeh picture from MorgueFile. Once you open the picture in Photoshop, go to the top bar and click on Image then Image Size to check the size. This particular one is larger than I need it to be, so I adjust the width to 1900 px (the height can also be adjusted some by cropping the photo). Just make sure that the checkbox for Constrain Proportions is checked.



Now we need to adjust the coloration. To do this, we need to neutralize the colors already present first by adding a black and white adjustment layer. Click on Layer and then New Adjustment Layer; choose Black and White from the options available. You can navigate to the Adjustments panel on the right hand side of the work space (and if you don't see it click on Window, then Adjustments) and change the sliders to make certain colors look more black or white. In this case, though, I've left the default settings.



Next, we need a layer to add some color to our picture. To do this, click on Layer, then New Adjustment Layer, then Hue/Saturation. In the Adjustments panel, check the box next to Colorize and change the values to the following: Hue = 237, Saturation = 49, and Lightness = -10.



Open the second picture you want to use. I've decided to use a black-and-white photograph of roses from MorgueFile. I want to make some contrast adjustments, so the first thing I need to do is add an adjustment layer. Click on Layer, New Adjustment Layer, then Brightness/Contrast. Change the Brightness setting to -60 to adjust the lighting. You can play around with the settings until you're satisfied.



With the adjustment layer selected, right click and then choose Merge Layers from the list of options. This way, the changes are applied and we can make a selection of both layers.



Now we need to select the roses so we can copy them into the other document. Select the magnetic lasso tool from the Tools panel on the left hand side of the work space. Near the top bar, there is a list of options to customize the tool; find where it says Feather and change that to 2 px. This will make our selection have a nice, soft edge and will allow it to blend in more with the rest of the composition, smoothing out any sharp or jagged edges. After you do that, carefully drag the magnetic lasso around the roses and click to create new points where the tool doesn't want to take. When you come back around, you should see a little circle near the top of the tool pointer; click the starting point and it will select the roses.



Copy the selection and switch back to your wallpaper document, where you will paste the roses. Press Ctrl + T to scale the roses down; drag a corner of the bounding box in while holding down Shift to keep it proportional. Once you're satisfied, click on the check mark at the top of the workspace.



We need to get rid of some of the dark background from the roses photograph that is still there between the stems. Hide the bokeh background layer by clicking on the eye next to the layer thumbnail in the Layers panel. Then, click on the zoom tool in the Tools panel (it looks like a magnifying glass). Zoom in until you're comfortable, then choose the magnetic lasso again and select the dark areas that are still left over, pressing delete after each selection.



Click on the eye icon next to the bokeh background layer to unhide it. I wanted to add some color to my roses at this point, so I made two new layers above the rose photograph layer - one for the petals and one for the stems. To create a new layer, click on Layer then New then Layer - and you can give them names to differentiate them when the new layer dialogue box appears. Once you've done that, it might be a good idea to group some layers so the Layers panel is more organized. To group the layers that make up the roses, click on Layer then New then Group and give your group a name just like you would a layer, then drag the layers you want to include into the group.



Next, click on the brush tool in the Tools panel, then the color swatches at the bottom of the Tools panel to change the color. I chose a blue color (hexadecimal 066AFF) for the petals and a dark green (hexadecimal 07180B) for the stems.



Select the petals layer and go to the top of the Layers panel. Where it says Normal, click on the drop down and choose Overlay from the list of options. This will allow you to brush a color on the petals while keeping the texture, shadows, and lighting from the layer below. Be sure to choose Overlay for the stems layer as well.



Use the brush tool to carefully paint the blue color over the petals. If you make a mistake, you can always use the eraser tool to fix it. Use a bigger brush for the middle of the flowers and a smaller one for the edges. When working with a dark background, you may notice that any brush strokes that go outside the lines don't show up. They're still there, but since the mode is set to Overlay, it won't show up. If you were working with a background that was any other color than black, then it would show up. If you want to make sure this doesn't happen, then hide the bokeh background layer so you can see where you're brushing.



Do the same thing with the stems, using the green color. Once you've finished coloring and cleaning up any stray lines, go to the top of the Layers panel where the opacity dropdown is. Move the slider or type in the number 80 to make it a little lighter and to mix in more of the underlying gray, so it won't look too dark.



We're not done yet; now we might want to spice it up by adding some abstract lines, so create a new layer. Making sure that you have your foreground color set to the same blue as the petals, click on the line tool in the Tools panel (you might find it under another shape tool, in which case you should click on the little black arrow at the corner of the shape tool button). Drag a medium sized diagonal line out over the document. You can draw a second one next to it - or copy it by right clicking on the shape layer and clicking Duplicate Layer.



After you have two lines, select both line layers by pressing down Ctrl while clicking on them. Again, right click and select Duplicate Layer. Do this one more time when you have four lines so you will have eight. You can use the move tool at the top of the Tools panel to adjust spacing. Then, make sure you have all the line layers selected, right click, and choose Merge Layers.



Now we want to make the lines have a bit of wave. There are a couple of ways you can go about this, but I want to use a transform. So click on Edit, Transform, then Warp. This gives you more control over where the wave goes.



Pull on the corners and the lines until you're satisfied; I've made my lines swish around the roses to give it a sense of movement.



Next, we want to add some interest to the lines. I've decided to give mine a bit of a glow. So right click on the Lines layer and choose Duplicate Layer. Then, use the move tool and the arrow keys to nudge it over to the left by two spaces.



Select the bottom lines layer (the original lines layer) and click on the fx at the bottom of the Layers panel. Then choose Blending Options.



We want to add a glow, so click on outer glow and then click on the color swatch in the Blending Options dialogue window. Use the eyedropper to pick up a purple color from the bokeh background. Next, change the Technique to Precise, the spread to 5%, and the size to 8 px. This will all make it a bit more noticeable.



To make the glow look more convincing, we should blur the layer. Make sure that the bottom lines layer is selected, then go to the top bar and click Filter. Next, click on Blur, then Gaussian blur. You can use a radius of 2.0 when the dialogue box pops up.



Finally, select the Lines copy layer and change the Layer mode to Color Dodge. This will make the lines a lighter color of whatever they overlay, sort of like a highlight.



And that's it! Now you know how to create a background wallpaper in Photoshop. You don't need to stick with this design by any means; playing around with Photoshop will help you learn new things and learn how to create beautiful compositions and designs.

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