coalcracker.net

I’m posting this here for my own sake, because every time I get the inclination to make a new banner for the site, I can never remember how to do it.  The trick is figuring out how to use Photoshop to make the image I want fade into the black background.  I usually spend an hour in Photoshop not getting anywhere, followed by an hour of poorly worded Google searches, followed by all five stages of grief when I realize I’m not going to figure it out.  That’s why the banner hasn’t changed from its previous “Florence” theme since the site went live.  This time though, by some stroke of luck, I was able to use Google to track down an explanation, and the parphrased text of it follows after the jump.  I just hope I can remember that I posted this when I need to do it again…

Fade to Black

1. Open your image, and then use the Marquee Tool to create a rectangular selection around the main object.  (For coalcracker banners, make this selection narrow at the ends but wider along the top and bottom.)
2. Go to Select->Feather. In the Feather Window that appears, enter the number “15″ in the Feather Radius Box. 
3. Copy the selection to the clipboard.
4. Select black as the ‘background color’ in the Photoshop toolbox.
5. Open a new Photoshop file (with dimensions 900×200 for coalcracker) and select Background Color from the Background Contents drop-down.
6. Create a new layer.
7. Paste your selection in a new layer in this file.  Center pasted image in the new area.
8. Save!