Ghost effect tutorial

Lets start:
Step 1: Copy The Background Layer

As always, we never want to work directly on our Background layer, since it contains our original pixel information, so the first thing I'm going to do is copy it. I'm a big fan of naming layers and you should be too, so I'm going to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+J (Win) / Command+Option+J (Mac) to bring up the New Layer dialog box. I'm going to name my Background copy layer desaturated, and we'll see why in a moment:



This gives me a copy of my Background layer in the Layers palette, which Photoshop has named "desaturated":



Adobe Photoshop Tutorials - Photo Effects
Photoshop Effects: Ghosting An Image
Learn Photoshop with Photo Effects Tutorials at Photoshop Essentials.com

Written By Steve Patterson

In this Photoshop effects tutorial, we're going to look at a way to give a photo a more "ghostly" appearance.

I'm a fan of horror films, but I admit I'm a bit shallow in that I usually just watch them for the special effects. I'm usually sitting there thinking to myself, "I wonder how they did that". So while playing around in Photoshop one night, I came up with this little technique for taking a living, breathing person and making them appear more like a ghost, which is why I called it"ghosting an image". It's a simple effect with only a few steps involved and they're easy to do.

Of course, as with most photo effects, it helps if you start with the right type of image. A photo of your kids playing at the beach on a summer afternoon may not be the best choice. Then again, you never know till you try it.

Here's the photo I'll be starting with:
The original image
The original image.

And here's the "ghosting" effect we're after:
The final result
The final effect.

Not what you're looking for? Check out our other Photoshop Effects tutorials!

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Let's get started.
Step 1: Copy The Background Layer

As always, we never want to work directly on our Background layer, since it contains our original pixel information, so the first thing I'm going to do is copy it. I'm a big fan of naming layers and you should be too, so I'm going to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+J (Win) / Command+Option+J (Mac) to bring up the New Layer dialog box. I'm going to name my Background copy layer desaturated, and we'll see why in a moment:
Photoshop's New Layer dialog box
Photoshop's New Layer dialog box. Name your layer "desaturated".

This gives me a copy of my Background layer in the Layers palette, which Photoshop has named "desaturated":
Copy the Background layer
Photoshop's Layers palette now showing my Background layer and the copy above it.
Step 2: Desaturate The Background Copy Layer

With my "desaturated" layer selected in the Layers palette, I'm going to, you guessed it, desaturate it to remove all the colors. To do that, I'll use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+U (Win) / Command+Shift+U (Mac). The image now appears black and white:



Step 3: Copy The "Desaturated" Layer

I need to make a copy of my "desaturated" layer at this point, so with it selected in the Layers palette, I'll use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+J (Win) / Command+Option+J (Mac) once again to bring up the New Layer dialog box. This time, I'll name the layer "motion blur":



I now have three layers in my Layers palette, including my new "motion blur" layer at the top:



Step 4: Apply The Motion Blur Filter

I feel like I'm giving away the endings with my layer names, but oh well. With the "motion blur" layer selected, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, select Blur, and then select Motion Blur. This brings up the "Motion Blur" dialog box. Normally you'd apply a motion blur to an object that's, you know, in motion, but applying it to a stationary object tends to give it a ghost-like effect, which is what we're after. When the dialog box appears, set the Angle to zero degrees, and then drag the slider bar at the bottom to the right to increase the Distance value until your image is blurred out quite a bit. Here I've set mine to 95 pixels:



Here's my image after applying the Motion Blur filter:



Step 5: Add A Layer Mask To The "Motion Blur" Layer

Our image already looks a little spooky with the motion blur applied, but now we're going to bring back some of her face, and we're going to do that using a layer mask. With the "motion blur" layer selected, click on the "Add Layer Mask" icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:



This adds a layer mask to the "motion blur" layer:



Step 6: Paint With Black On The Layer Mask To Reveal Some Of The Face

Grab your Brush tool from the Tools palette, or press B on your keyboard to quickly select it. Then press D on your keyboard to make sure black is selected as your foreground color (Note: If your layer mask was already selected when you pressed "D", your foreground color will actually become white, since white is the default foreground color for a layer mask. If that's the case, simply press X to swap the foreground and background colors, which will set your foreground color to black). Go up to the Options Bar at the top of the screen and lower the opacity of your brush to around 10%:



This will allow you to paint the face back in gradually. Click on the layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette to select it if it's not already selected (it will have a highlight border around it if it's selected), and then with a large, soft-edged brush and black as your foreground color, paint over the middle area of the face in short, gradual strokes to bring back some of the eyes, nose and mouth, leaving the rest blurred out. Be sure to stay well within the boundaries of the face so everything blurs out nicely from the center:



Step 7: Merge All Of The Layers Onto A New Layer

We're going to merge all three layers onto a new layer at this point, and we can do that with the keyboard shortcut Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E (Win) / Shift+Command+Option+E (Mac), which takes all three layers and merges them onto a brand new layer at the top of the Layers palette. Double-click on the name of the layer and rename it to merged:



Step 8: Apply The "Diffuse Glow" Filter To The Merged Layer

With the new "merged" layer selected, go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, select Distort, and then select Diffuse Glow. This brings up Photoshop's Filter Gallery (it doesn't actually say Filter Gallery anywhere at the moment but it's the Filter Gallery) set to the Diffuse Glow filter options. You may have to play around with the three options a little depending on the image you're using, but for my image, I've set Graininess to 3, Glow Amount to 10, and Clear Amount also to 10 as circled below:



Here's my image after applying the "Diffuse Glow" filter:


Step 9: Add A Solid Color Fill Layer

All that's left to do now is add a little color, so with the "merged" layer still selected, click on the New Fill Or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:



Select Solid Color from the top of the list:


This will bring up Photoshop's Color Picker. I'm going to choose a green color:

Click OK once you've chosen a color to exit out of the Color Picker. You're image will now be filled entirely with the solid color, so we'll fix that next.

Step 10: Change The Blend Mode Of The Fill Layer To "Color" And Lower The Opacity

With the Solid Color fill layer selected, go up to the layer blend mode options in the top left of the Layers palette, click on the down-pointing arrow beside the word "Normal" and change the blend mode to Color. This will colorize the image with the color you've chosen (green in my case). The color will most likely be too intense though, so move over to the right to the Opacity option at the top of the Layers palette and lower the opacity to reduce the intensity. I've lowered mine considerably, all the way down to 11% for just a hint of color:



FINAL IMAGE

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CBN News

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CBN Live

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Mr Bean Episode 1

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Basic SEO practices for newbies:

The thing to remember is that SEO isn't a magic bullet. It's important, but no one knows the exact algorithms the SEs use, and each one is different so all you can do is optimize the best you can. There happens to be a few things that you should just always do whenever you make a new website. Don't stress over every little thing, just make sure you are doing it, this should just become kind of automatic for you.

Make sure you fill in your meta tags with a good title, description, and the right keywords. I personally don't think the keywords meta-tag is nearly as important as everyone else on here does, but it gives me a way to organize my keywords list for me to reference. When you start having many different websites, it's good to include whatever notes to yourself you can. When you come back to work on an older site you might not remember eveything you were thinking before. The metatags help you remember your site info as much as it helps the SE figure it out. A good rule of thumb is that anything that won't hurt you for SEO and might help, you should use and use correctly. Definately use the title meta-tag, try to include keywords in the title. Definately use the description meta-tag, google will normally use this for the summary it displays in the listing. It isn't used for indexing so write it for humans, this is what gets people to click on your link when they see it in the SERP. Don't use the same metatags for every page on your site. Take the time to make them be specific to each page.

Create good content. Make sure you have some decent content. Content is what the internet was invented for. If you have unique and quality content, then all the seo and backlinking you're doing is just to get the ball rolling. Give them what they want, show them where it is, and they'll start coming. If it's good enough then it'll eventually start building on its own naturally because people like what they found. That's the idea anyway. So whenever possible use the best page design and the best content possible. Avoid duplicate content between different pages on your site, the SE will most likely penalize your site for that.

Remember, your content isn't just something to get google to like your site, it is the whole point of your site. The content and how you structure it is what will make visitors do what you want when they get there. If it's crap they'll just leave, and 99% of them won't leave by clicking on your adsense or affilliate link, they'll just close the window or use the back button. (yes, of course if your doing blackhat stuff you can make the browser go where you want, but that's for a different discussion.)

Include your keywords. Structure your content correctly, make a few title headers in the content that include keywords (use header tags h1, h2, etc.), try to have a keyword density around 2% in your content, and maybe 4% for the whole page including the metatags, alt tags, anchors, etc.

Be sure that your .htaccess is set up correctly. Decide on which way you want your url to be and stick with it. If you decide to use www then always use it like that in your links, don't use both. I usually set up a 301 for all www requests to redirect to non-www urls. If you don't set that up then every single page on your site can appear to google as having at least one duplicate. If that's the only thing wrong on your site it isn't going to kill you, but it's so easy to fix. If you don't know how to set up a redirect in your .htaccess file then just do a search, there are many other threads explaining it. Check google if you can't find it here. Also, .htaccess only apples if your on an Apache server, Windows servers do it a little differently, if that applies to you then just search google to find out how to do it. If your consitent in your linking, then the only time the redirect will come into play is if you get natural backlinks that you have no control over. You should also specify which you prefer, www or not-www in google tools if you use it. (If you don't then you really should, I recommend you set yourself up an account for webmaster tools and analytics.)

Make a robots.txt file and I like to include a favicon because without them the robots will trigger file not found errors on your server. Be sure to configure your robots.txt correctly. Make a custom 404 page. If your site has more than just a couple of pages then also create a sitemap.xml file. It's not a bad idea to just create a sitemap anyway no matter what, it lets you define the structure of your site to the crawlers. Just search google if you don't know how to do any of that, it's very basic and you can find exact instructions within a minute when you do a search.

Other than that there isn't a lot more you can do for on-site SEO. When people ask about SEO they're always thinking of on-site SEO, but thats the easy and quick part. Just do it and get on with it.

Everything else is off-site SEO and involves building backlinks and promotion.
This is where you need to focus your efforts. This is where the magic bullet is, if there really is one.

Social Bookmarks, Directory Submissions, Profile Links, and Blog Comments are really the easiest place to start getting backlinks. It's not a bad idea to purchase these links from a service. They are easy to make, but to do it right they really need to be posted from many different accounts and ip adresses. A good idea when your starting is to do it yourself a little bit to see how it works, then purchase larger quantities from a service. You want to get a lot of links, but you don't want to over do it. Building to fast can look unnatural, just do some searches and read up on it a little more. How many and how fast is a judgement call you have to make. hold off on more complex linkbuilding until you have a little more experience. Linkwheels and other link structures can be very powerful, but can also hurt your site a lot if not done correctly.

Whenever possible include keyword anchors and title or alt tags on your backlinks. Don't always use the same anchors, vary it up a little, use 3 or 4 different keywords and even do a few with some non keyword anchors. You are trying to look as though a lot of different real people have taken a liking to your site, if it were natural then all links wouldn't be exactly the same, so you want to simulate that same type of randomness. Backlinking strategies are all about simulating the natural events that happen as a site grows in popularity. If you can do it successfully then the SE's will give you good position in the listings, and then hopefully what you are simulating can become reality. The point of all of it is to get traffic.

Change up your anchor text. The idea of backlinking is to simulate that masses of people are becoming interested in your site. It should have some amount of randomness to it in order to look natural. I've seen a few made up stats on what's best, but I think a good rule of thumb is maybe about 45% primary keywords, 35% secondary keywords, and about 15% random unrelated like Click Here, and then about 5% just the url. The exact percentage isn't dramatically important, it just needs to seem like the linking is natural.

Create relevant articles containing your keywords, include backlinks using keyword anchors, and submit to article directories. Article directories are mostly authority sites and your article becomes a relevant backlink to your site. Then create profiles and accounts on blogs, social networking sites, forums etc. Include a link to your website whenever you do that and each one of those become backlinks as well.

Thats the end of it. Well kinda.
Go back and watch your stats to see what keywords are getting the most traffic to your site, analyze the data a little bit and if you need to, remove or add keywords to your content and tags, and adjust the anchors your using in your backlinks.

Continue building links. Remember you're trying to artificially create the appearance to the SE that your site is popular. When that happens naturally, people are always adding new links to your site. Since you are trying to look natural you have to do the same thing. Linkbuilding never stops completely.

OK, there you go. That's that basics of SEO. Everything else is about fine tuning, and has to be looked at for each individual situation.

If you have any more questions, before you start PMing anyone just read through the threads in the White Hat SEO section, and do some searching on google. You can find some really good information from some much smarter people than me.

If there are any SEO gurus that want to expand on this or if you see any errors you think should be discussed, please add your input.

Hope this can help some of you.

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Denpa onna to Seishun Otoko

Format: MP4
Resolution: 320x240
Language: Jap w/ Eng Subs
File Size: Max. of 34MB

Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Themes: aliens

Plot Summary: The story revolves around a highschool boy named Niwa Makoto. He lives with his aunt’s family since his
parents are away on business. It is there where he meets his mysterious cousin of the same age Touwa Erio — who happens to tie
a futon mattress around her upper body and is a self-proclaimed alien. Her staple food is pizza. Erio had been missing for half
a year and was found floating in the sea. She doesn't remember anything about what happened during that period of time, but
she began to think that it was the act of an alien and wanders the neighbourhood wrapped in the futon.

Episode 1 "The Alien Child"

Episode 2 "Paranoia of My Disappearing Adolescence"

Episode 3 "A Strange Moment for the Girl Bound to the Ground"

Episode 4 "One Month to Mend a Broken Arm"

Episode 5 "The Melancholy of Thanksgiving"

Episode 6 "Ryu'ko'-san's feeling... kinda... glum..."

Episode 7 "A Day Someone Will Remember"

Episode 8 "Tsiolkovsky's Prayer"

Episode 9 "Region Limited Alien Incident"

Episode 10 "Overhanging Roof Girl"

Episode 11 "This Summer is about Basketball and Espers and Futons and Astronomical Observations and Festivals and Baseball and Meme and..."

Episode 12 "0.00000000198 Centimeters Per Second"

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Dog Days

Format: MP4
Resolution: 320x240
Language: Jap w/ Eng Subs
File Size: Max. of 32MB

Genres: adventure, fantasy
Themes: war, game, moe, nekomimi, inumimi

Plot Summary: In the land of Fronaldo, the Republic of Biscotti has been aggressively attacked by the Lion Kingdom of Galette. Facing potential defeat, Princess Millhiore summons
a hero who can save the country. What she gets is Izumi Shinku, a middle-school boy from Japan. Awaiting him in Fronaldo is the task of becoming hero enough to
defeat his enemies while learning the peculiar rules of battle in this strange new world.

Episode 1 - "Birth of a Hero!"

Episode 2 - "My First Battle!"

Episode 3 - "I want to go home! I can't go Home? Hero in Flognarde"

Episode 4 - "Charge! Princess Recovery Battle!!"

Episode 5 - "Fierce Battle! Mion Fortress!"

Episode 6 - "The Fortune Telling Princess"

Episode 7 - "Proclamation of War"

Episode 8 - "The Day of War"

Episode 9 - "Battle of Grana Fortress"

Episode 10 - "Hero, Princess, and a Light of Hope"

Episode 11 - "Dance the Night Sky Like a Flower"

Episode 12 - "The Four Conditions"

Episode 13 - "The Promise"

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Dantalian no Shoka

Format: MP4
Resolution: 320x240
Language: Jap w/ Eng Subs
File Size: Max. of -

Genres: fantasy, romance, drama, comedy
Themes: gothic, books, mystery

Plot Summary: Hugh Anthony Disward inherits an old mansion and a personal library from his grandfather. In the basement of the mansion, he meets a mysterious girl—Dalian.
She is a Dantalian and a gateway to "Dantalian's bookshelf", which stores the prohibited books of the demons.

Episode 1 "Turn-up Book"
Episode 2 "Book of the Fetus"
Episode 3 "Book of Wisdom / Queen of the Night"
Episode 4"Book of the Soul-exchange"
Episode 5 "The Magician's Daughter"
Episode 6 "Libricide"
Episode 7 "The Perfumer"
Episode 8 "Book of Equivalence / Book of Connection"
Episode 9 "Book of Twilight"
Episode 10 "Phantom Music"
Episode 11 "Rasiel Shelves"
Episode 12 "Song of the Unseen Tomorrow"

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C - The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

Format: MP4
Resolution: 320x240
Language: Jap w/ Eng Subs
File Size: Max. of 32MB

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Themes: another world, demons, money, politics, economy

Plot Summary: The Japanese government was rescued from the brink of financial collapse by the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
For its citizens, however, life has not improved, and unemployment, crime, suicide, and despair are rampant. Kimimaro is a
scholarship student whose only dream is to avoid all this and live a stable life as a civil servant. One day, however, he
meets a man who offers him the chance to make money fast. From then on Kimimaro is drawn into a mysterious realm known as
"The Financial District," where people engage in supernatural battles for the possibility of money.

Episode 1 "Complication"

Episode 2 "Coincidence"

Episode 3 "Conspiracy"

Episode 4 "Conversion"

Episode 5 "Cultivation"

Episode 6 "Conflict"

Episode 7 "Composition"

Episode 8 "Confidence"

Episode 9 "Collapse"

Episode 10 "Collision"

Episode 11 "Control"

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