New CiC Techniques Page: Rule of Thirds

[McQ]

Thanks for the file! PSD files can indeed be used as post attachments just fine, although not everyone has the software installed to load them up.

[Dave Humphries]

These *.PSD files are ~ here so anyone could download either the Bordered or Border-less version, open the file in Photoshop, Elements, or Lightroom, and load the vector path into the program as a Custom Shape to be used as a guide later on.

Hi Steaphany,

Firstly, thanks for sharing this file.

So, now I have the file, I have put it in the Presets/Custom Shapes folder, but couldn't help noticing that all the other files there are .csh, not .psd.

Does this matter, or have I guessed the wrong place to put it?

I'm also unfamiliar with how I'd call it up when I have an image in PSE, could you elaborate a little please?

Apologies for being a dumbo (with further apologies to any offended elephants).

Thanks,

[Steaphany]

Dave,

The file itself can be stored anywhere, it is within Photoshop, or your other Adobe image editor, where you "load" it as a Custom Shape.

First off, this worked for me since prior to this I never created a Custom Shape before, I went to the Help. Here is a screen capture so you can see where I got my information:



If you are using Elements, it would be best to see what the other application help pages say since Adobe was not completely consistent with how these programs operate.

Here is the step by step, and please feel free to include everything I present here in the content of the final tutorial, if needed I can provide my original screen capture images:

Open the file that you downloaded from this thread. Do not be concerned by what you see, it will not be impressive at this point. The raster content of the PSD file needed to be made quite small in order to get the CiC forum to accept my upload. All the real value is saved as vector path data.



The next step is to go to the Paths Palette. It is the tab right next to the Layers and Channels. Left click on the Golden Ratio Grid in the Paths Palette, this is easy since it's the only item in the list:



Now click on Edit to bring up the Edit Menu and go down and click on "Define Custom Shape...":



This will open a window where you can give a name to the Custom Shape being configured into Photoshop:



Wow, this window will also show you an image of the shape that you are about to load. Enter an appropriate name, as I have done above and click OK.

That's all there is to it. Photoshop will now keep the Golden Ratio Grid ready for you when ever you need it.

-=-=-

Now, How to use this wonder:

Open an image in Photoshop.

From the Photoshop Tool Bar, go down and select the Custom Shape Tool:



Select "Shape Layers" mode of operation and from the Shape Pulldown, scroll down to find your new Golden Ratio Grid at the bottom of the list:



Hey, look at that, there is another Grid in this menu of Custom Shapes. This is the Grid Custom Shape provided by Adobe and it has the grid lines set to apply the Rule of Thirds. For this example, I'll be using the Golden Ratio Grid.

Now Click and drag a rectangle over your open image. The specifics of where is not important yet since we'll have the ability to move things around.



Look at what we have. The image is open, the obviously Golden Ratio proportioned Grid is sitting on top of the image and it is in it's own layer.

With the Shape Layer selected, go up to Edit and click on Free Transform Path:



Now you have the Free Transform tool being applied specifically to the Golden Ratio Grid. Just hold the Shift Key as you click and drag the corner handles to position the grid over your image. Holding the Shift Key is necessary to preserve the proportions of the Golden Ratio Grid.



When you have the Golden Ratio Grid positioned to your liking, just hit Enter to commit the changes.

Now use the Crop tool and position the cropped area to match the perimeter defined by the Free Transformed Golden Ratio Grid:



I personally feel the Borderless Golden Ratio Grid is easier to align the Crop Tool's border to since there is a clear line defining the image edge. When the Grid has a Border, the edge ends up being "somewhere" under the border and I like to keep things precise.

Just commit the crop and we now have:



All that remains is to delete the Shape Layer to remove the Golden Ratio Grid from the image and we're done:



For a video tutorial of this technique with an example performed with Elements, just go here:

PhotoAnswers Video Tutorial – Rule of Thirds

The only thing lacking from this video is how to load in a new Custom Shape.