Calendar Workshop 2025

[Susan Ewart]

1 hour ago, Julian Adams said:

Just wow, Gerry.  The color combinations on your gradients are amazing not to mention everything else.

I agree, beautiful gradients that really make those photos look great.

[Ann Seeber]

2 hours ago, Julian Adams said:

September. 

 

Oh, that reminds me. I forgot about slipping a photo or graphic behind the date grid. Actually, I did it on my monthly calendars occasionally. I didn't use a mask, just sized the art to fit.

[Julian Adams]

2 hours ago, Ann Seeber said:

Oh, that reminds me. I forgot about slipping a photo or graphic behind the date grid. Actually, I did it on my monthly calendars occasionally. I didn't use a mask, just sized the art to fit.

That's what I did and then adjusted the transparency.

[Julian Adams]

4 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

I would have a hard time picking.  they both appeal to me.  the people one looks so happy it makes me smile, the other one is so inviting I just want to walk right in, sit down and start eating.

I liked the photo with the people better but both whites and blacks were blown out so I couldn't tweak the contrast to my liking for printing.  I also tried a little more saturated color peeking through the mask and more texture on the background "paper".  The "paper" is a layer of a photograph of grass on top of my background with the transparency quite low.  I thought grass would make a good background but the color was too bright.

[Julian Adams]

I had to put ghosts in this one.

[Sue Thomas]

7 hours ago, Cassel said:

@Julian AdamsThe bevel looks good on the days, without the outline (for June). For July, your airbrushing is so subtle that I would not have known if you hadn't said anything.

@Mary Solaas I don't understand why you had to use a different technique to colorize the dates? Did you merge the white with the dates? Just locking the transparency would have be enough to change individual date color.

@Ann Seeber It looks like those masks have generated very different results than I expected initially. All those ideas are definitely going to go into a class/tutorial/workshop!

@Sue Thomas I remember seeing credits at the end of some shows/movies where they didn't capitalize the names. I guess it is a style on its own but as you pointed out, some interesting glyphs can then be used! Curious to know: do you manage to always get a nice "solid" background or do you edit the photo to get it?

@Sharla Next time, I should warn people that the photos should be horizontal. I didn't mean to make it harder for users.

@Donna Sillia Those backgrounds are very interesting!

@Gerry Landreth Great work! That calendar will be lovely!

By the way, once you are done your pages, you can then post them in the gallery for everyone to enjoy them!

We are almost done!

Carole, if I'm  not mistaken the French movie industry will  write the  first  letter of a christian name in lower case, and the surname's first letter in upper case of the actors names in the credits. As their surnames are regarded of more importance.  As for my photos, no I  rarely edit my photos. In order to achieve maximum depth of field,   I use  an aperture setting, set at f4 with the metering focused on the bird. Mind you in this shot there wasn't  anything immediately  behind the swallow other than the wide open field. 

Edited yesterday at 10:48 AM by Sue Thomas

[Sue Thomas]

9 hours ago, Gerry Landreth said:

I will finish the rest over the next couple of weeks. This gave me a chance to practice techniques I hadn't used in a while. The pictures are stock images from the Morgue File, and the font is Samantha Upright.

Gerry, these are brilliant. I also like the consistency  of each page. Which is what I  aim for with my calendars. 

[Mary Solaas]

@Cassel Yes,  I had merged the white background with the dates.

[Mary Solaas]

7 hours ago, Julian Adams said:

I did a different August picnic theme.  I think I like it better.  What do you think?

@Julian Adams I like both pictures, but I like the darker mask doodles the best.

[Corrie Kinkel]

I had a bit of extra time last night because we went to wintertime and can now at least show what my calendar is going to look in a more definite way. All the month are going to be in the same style. The only thing I haven't decided on yet, is what to do with the extra space and if I'm going to give the weekend days another color or not. When I'm finished I will post the whole calendar. I'm super impressed with all the different calendars, you all are a creative lot. There is so much going on with all the posts that it is almost impossible to give a reaction on each.

[Michele]

17 hours ago, Julian Adams said:

Then I got the idea of adding yellow under the mask to accentuate the yellow coloured month.

I've been using png files as my main pic, then adding a paper underneath to change the mask. Now if I could just get PSP to work again, I could catch up.

[Sharla]

15 hours ago, Donna Sillia said:

July and August   The backgrounds are both from AI modified with FF distortion filters. I know that my backgrounds are fussy, but from what I see in David's pictures, Thailand patterns are vibrant and filled with patterns and colors. All the pictures are from David.

One thing that I noticed when saving as jpgs is that the resolution was 100 px. I checked the other templates, and they varied from 100 to 200. Carole, should we be changing the resolution to 300 if we are planning to have our calendar printed?

Donna, I don't think your backgrounds are fussy. To me they are vibrant and they fit your theme really well - I like them just as they are.

[Sharla]

8 hours ago, Julian Adams said:

I did a different August picnic theme.  I think I like it better.  What do you think?

I would have really liked this one if I hadn't seen the other one first. I think the one with people in it is joyful and that gives it an edge over this one.

[Sharla]

12 hours ago, Gerry Landreth said:

The pictures are stock images from the Morgue File

I'd not heard of the Morgue File so thanks for mentioning them - I will go explore when I have some time.

[Sue Thomas]

1 hour ago, Corrie Kinkel said:

I had a bit of extra time last night because we went to wintertime and can now at least show what my calendar is going to look in a more definite way. All the month are going to be in the same style. The only thing I haven't decided on yet, is what to do with the extra space and if I'm going to give the weekend days another color or not. When I'm finished I will post the whole calendar. I'm super impressed with all the different calendars, you all are a creative lot. There is so much going on with all the posts that it is almost impossible to give a reaction on each.

I love the theme of your calendar. I have a passion for lichen and fungi. Unfortunately, there isn't the variety out here, as there is at home.

[Sharla]

9 hours ago, Cassel said:

@Sharla Next time, I should warn people that the photos should be horizontal. I didn't mean to make it harder for users.

It has been a fun challenge. Many of my photos were horizontal but just didn't work in the masks - they just looked wrong and boring so I had to be creative with how I used them which is a good thing.

[Sharla]

July is Roses and August is Thistle.

 

[Sue Thomas]

4 hours ago, Julian Adams said:

That's what I did and then adjusted the transparency.

I haven't got around to filling the date boxes as yet on this year's calendars.  This one is from a previous year's calendar. It's a nice way to  use more photos of the same subject.  Anyway, again it is  down to personal choice, but I like the recipient to be able to write, or mark the dates, which in my opinion  means  keeping the date boxes soft.  There are always many ways to achieve an effect with PSP, transparancy is one, but may I suggest you try using the blend mode.  I would promote the background layer, add the image, then apply a blend mode. I as like to keep the texture, if any on the background paper only.  You can also change the  promoted background colour etc, to get the desired effect.  

Edited 22 hours ago by Sue Thomas

[Daniel Hess]

My theme for this years calendar is Kentucky.  Last year I kept it wide open for just about anything.  I established a basic layout and "pattern" that I was going to stick with and I think I was able to do that.  Before starting, I looked on internet to see if "months" have specific colors associated with them and found out it is totally subjective LOL.  I don't think I found two charts anywhere that matched or were even in the ballpark with each other.  I just picked one and used it. I incorporated each months birthstone into each calendar.  Fortunately NOT subjective, they are pretty much set in stone (pun intended har har !!).  Here are the first three.  I'll do three more posts each with three calendars.  They are all in the gallery and I'm linking to them there in these posts.

 

[Daniel Hess]

Here are April thru June.

[Daniel Hess]

Here are July through September.

[Daniel Hess]

And here are the last three, October thru December.

[Art Kuiper]

7 minutes ago, Daniel Hess said:

And here are the last three, October thru December.

Wow! Daniel, your calendar is full of terrific pictures nicely assembled to match each month of the year with the seasons. I especially like your winterization of the months.

[Julian Adams]

1 hour ago, Sue Thomas said:

I haven't got around to filling the date boxes as yet on this year's calendars.  This one is from a previous year's calendar. It's a nice way to  use more photos of the same subject.  Anyway, again it is  down to personal choice, but I like the recipient to be able to write, or mark the dates, which in my opinion  means  keeping the date boxes soft.  There are always many ways to achieve an effect with PSP, transparancy is one, but may I suggest you try using the blend mode.  I would promote the background layer, add the image, then apply a blend mode. I as like to keep the texture, if any on the background paper only.  You can also change the  promoted background colour etc, to get the desired effect.  

Blend mode?  Is that the drop down menu next to the opacity adjust?  I just use normal.  I haven't played with the other options.  What are you suggesting?

I ♥ your July and August!

[Sue Thomas]

42 minutes ago, Julian Adams said:

Blend mode?  Is that the drop down menu next to the opacity adjust?  I just use normal.  I haven't played with the other options.  What are you suggesting?

I ♥ your July and August!

Yes, the blend mode tool is next to the  opacity. It is impossible for me suggest a blend mode. As you will have to try them all, depending on the  image and background you use, to achieve the look you  want. Try overlay, sheer, or soft  light for  example.