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Calendar Tutorial Using Photoshop CS3

By Scott on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 8:55 am | updates.

Well, it’s finally here (putting this simple 10 minute tutorial together was harder than it looks—it took me nearly two hours, which is why this post is going up so late. Sorry ’bout that).

This tutorial has a lot of steps, and takes nearly 10 minutes, but it’s NOT hard—it just has a lot of steps, but at least when you’re done, you’ve got a reusable template. Also, since I wanted to keep this to a one-part tutorial (meaning I only had 10 minutes), I haul butt. But just remember; it’s video; you can rewind it if you missed something. I also didn’t have enough time to include the ripped page part at the end, so go back to last week where I did the iPhoto tutorial, because at the end I showed how to make the rip in Photoshop CS3.

In this video, I show how to build a calendar that you can have actually have printed by a photo lab (I used Mpix.com’s specs because that’s the only lab I use, but I’m sure there are other labs that print calendars as well). Click the video below to watch the step-by-step on how to build your own calendar templates like the ones in Apple’s iPhoto.

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  1. #1

    Hi Scott,

    I’d love to watch some of these blogged videos you post, but my silly corporate firewall blocks streaming content. Is there any chance you could post a link to the .mov or .flv files so that we can download them directly and play them locally? Thanks!

    Aaron Cushing on July 11th, 2008 at 9:13 am
  2. #2

    Awesome! Thanks!
    Photoshop has a place command?!
    Wow. who knew that?
    I guess I do now.
    Thanks!

    Mark on July 11th, 2008 at 9:27 am
  3. #3

    Thanks Scott for the helpfull tutorial. Is a clearer link available?? I cannot see what specs are being entered when the template is being made?? Maybe this can be put on Photoshop TV??

    As always, thanks for the help.

    Glenn

    Glenn Nieciag on July 11th, 2008 at 10:10 am
  4. #4

    Great Tutorial..I liked the fast pace..
    You teaching photoshop, nobody does it better. Thanks, Scott.

    Claire
    http://www.clairesimages.com

    Claire on July 11th, 2008 at 10:18 am
  5. #5

    “We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.”

    :(

    required on July 11th, 2008 at 10:26 am
  6. #6

    Scott, I wanted to add something else to my above comment:
    The speed and pace of this tutorial was really great. As you said, if anyone misses anything, they can always rewind.

    It would be nice if Photoshop User TV had some material of this caliber as well. Don’t get me wrong, I love PS user TV, but some episodes have about 7 minutes worth of content among all of the ads, commercials, announcements, and other goofy stuff.

    I love goofy stuff! I’m a pretty goofy guy. But even though I love goofy stuff, I think it would be possible to achieve a slightly better balance of goofiness to real content in the show, as this calendar tutorial demonstrates what is possible.
    I am curious what others think about this as well.

    Thanks for all of your hard work.
    -Mark

    Mark on July 11th, 2008 at 10:48 am
  7. #7

    Great tutorial - thanks.

    Despite the previous post by “required” (?) the video IS still available.

    TuesdayTony on July 11th, 2008 at 10:49 am
  8. #8

    Excellent tutorial: I’m going to make a calendar. I love the pace of this presentation and the enthusiasm in your voice, Scott!

    Balliolman :)

    Balliolman on July 11th, 2008 at 11:19 am
  9. #9

    Thanks Scott,

    You make it look so easy.

    A while back I created some 2008 calendar templates for use within Lightroom. Where you can simply change the image by selecting from your library.

    Here is the link to them - http://camerasview.com/archives/180

    They were created under Lr for Windows and some Mac people had issues with them.

    Not as fancy as yours, but I thought I would put it out there if anyone was interested.

    Thanks again for every thing you guys at NAPP do for your members.

    Peter M on July 11th, 2008 at 11:20 am
  10. #10

    To Mark:
    First, thanks for your kind comments about today’s tutorial (I wish it fit on the screen better—I did this at home myself, and didn’t use my video crew at the office, which is why it’s that way. Next time, I’ll record it earlier, and give it to them to size and optimize). I’m glad you liked it though. :)

    As for Photoshop User TV: we do more of this stuff, and offer more free content than we get credit for. I went to this week’s episode, and within it was that long 20 minute interview with Ed Greenburg, which is rare for us, so I went back to the previous week’s episode. Here’s what we showed

    >>Matt did a tutorial that lasted around 5 minutes
    >> Corey Barker sat in for me, and did a 10:40 tutorial.
    >> Dave Cross did a 6 minute tutorial
    >> Finally, our ‘One for the road tip’ added another minute.

    That’s around 21 minutes of free content in that one episode.

    Now, in that same episode we had two 60 seconds commercial breaks, which helps pay the bills (and the bills for producing and serving Photoshop User TV are HUGE!).

    That 2 minutes of paid commercials

    Of course, we also promoted Photoshop World, our seminar tours, and anything else that might help offset the cost of producing a weekly TV show that’s downloaded more than two million times each month (and for each person that downloads it, we pay a fee for the bandwidth costs).

    We also goof off, because that’s just us. We can’t help it. We laugh, joke around, etc. and try to have fun doing the show. If we didn’t have fun, we’d have stopped doing the show a long time ago.

    I know we often get criticized for being corny, or joking too much, or plugging our stuff, or being silly, but that’s just us. There are plenty of free video podcasts that didn’t do any of that stuff, and if you go to iTunes and do a search (or click the Photoshop Masters link on iTunes Podcast page), you’ll find that most of the Photoshop Podcasts have stopped producing new episodes a while back. But we still do our silly show, week after week, year after year, 52 weeks a year without fail.

    Anyway, we deliver a lot more content than most people realize, and at the end of the day, it’s like Dave Cross always says: “It’s free.”

    I hope you don’t mind me carrying on like this, and I SO don’t mean to jump on you, Mark, in any way. I’m just venting my frustration because we work so hard, and spend so much time and money on the show, and when I read comments that we’re not providing enough free content, it just gets to me.

    Thanks for listening. :)

    -Scott

    .

    Scott on July 11th, 2008 at 11:21 am
  11. #11

    I wish more tutorials were like that. Quick, essentials, rewind if neccessary. I like it. Thanks for the tutorial.

    Claudius Coenen on July 11th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
  12. #12

    Also, there’s nothing that says you have to listen to the sponsored spots. I do b/c the OWC computing ad is just too funny. Plus the CDW oens with the monkey and the guy on the island “Hi Bob - we’re gonna need afew things…” It’s one man on an island - I have two desktops and a laptop - more than enough, but this guy on an island is running HP Proliant servers, Oracle, and such…what kind of business is that? I wish I had that kinda skill.

    The free content is very much appreciated Scott. I know you make it a policy not to really enter into the comments discussion, but on this occasion when you jumped in I did want to throw my support on the amount of content y’all provide - mountains of information which so many take for granted. Let me be among those who say “Thanks” and leave it at that. I can’t see the calendar tutorial at work either, but will watch when I get home. I did one a while ago, loosely based on Matt K.s desktop calendar, but as you said was rather tedious. I can’t wait to see the improvements over my lame-o version! :)

    Jason on July 11th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
  13. #13

    A little add-on to Scott’s comments for Mark. If you really want to get more of these types of tutorials, I highly recommend that you become an NAPP member. The NAPP website has hundreds of tutorials in both written and video formats that cover just about anything you would want to do in Photoshop. There are also other great benefits such as the HELP center, the NAPP member gallery, and those amazing NAPP member discounts. I have been a member for quite a few years and I use the NAPP site all of the time. It is always kept fresh and up to date so it’s always fun to go back to again and again. I know I sound like a commercial but if you really want great educational content, it’s absolutely worth paying the $99 (which you can easily recover from all the great member discounts + you get Photoshop User magazine which is the best mag on the market).

    Jeff

    Jeff on July 11th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
  14. #14

    Thanks for responding Scott. I really appreciate it.
    First, let me apologize. I didn’t mean to sound negative at all. I really do apologize. Like I said, I love PS User TV.

    Second, I appreciate how much hard work goes into each episode. And I probably only know a fraction of it. I’ve spent a lot of time over the years preparing all kinds of graphics and presentations for clients, so I do have a decent idea of the hard work involved. Thank you to all of your crew for the hard work.

    Thirdly, your stats are correct, and I can’t explain why it feels that there is more playing around than actual tutorials. But as you said, the 20 minute interview was rare, and I think that even Corey’s tutorial the week before was rare. I can’t back up that claim though. But I do remember thinking as I was watching Corey, that it’s less common that we get a 10 minute tutorial like the one he did. I could be totally wrong though.

    Fourthly, I love the goofiness! I have seen others comment on it, but I truly don’t mind it. It just seems that sometimes, there’s 15 minutes of content in a 30 minute episode. I haven’t actually ascertained that though, so I guess I need to get my facts straight before “pointing it out” like I did above. I’m sorry.

    Lastly, Keep up the good work. Like others have stated many times before, I don’t know how you do it all, I don’t know when you find time to sleep, and I have learned so much from you that I am extremely grateful for all that you have given over. You should only go from strength to strength.

    Thanks, and apologetically,
    Mark

    Mark on July 11th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
  15. #15

    Jeff,
    Thanks for responding as well.
    I am a NAPP member and I appreciate your advice.
    It is very good.
    Thanks,
    Mark

    Mark on July 11th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
  16. #16

    Hi Scott,

    You said “I know we often get criticized for being corny, or joking too much…”.

    Just let me say Don’t Stop ! There’s too much serious stuff in this world already. After all where would I go for to see that “choppy and pointy” hand stuff (see I got it right this time).

    Regards,

    MikeV

    Michael Van der Tol on July 11th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
  17. #17

    I just reread the whole comments section from today, and I’m feeling really badly about it.
    I wish I could apologize in person. :(

    If I ever attend a live taping of PSUTV, (which I would love!) I’ll make sure to do just that!

    Once again, I apologize,
    Mark

    Mark on July 11th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
  18. #18

    Hey Scott,
    My vote for the light headed humor - I completely appreciate the FREE episodes when I get to see them and enjoy the special guests as well. The three of you seem like like you are just having a good ‘ol time as buddies. Nothing wrong with that, eh ?
    As a fellow musician, I would love to see a vid of your band though - and maybe feature keyboard solo the next time - ha ha

    Arun on July 11th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
  19. #19

    Rockin’ tutorial…as always! Thanks Scott!

    Dave Lloyd on July 11th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
  20. #20

    I second the request from … Aaron (?? - the arrow on the bubble always writes over the by line).

    I’d like to have some means of getting this in a downloadable format. I can get the content at work, but I have dial-up at home (ah, some of you may remember that days of dial-up internet :)) which makes streaming video impossible. If I could download at work and take home to watch, that would be great!

    Dan Wilson on July 11th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
  21. #21

    Greetings from Oxenhope, West Yorkshire, England. Excellent tutorial Scott. I watch the show every week and always enjoy it. I don’t even mind if stuff gets repeated as I often forget tips I know you’ve mentioned before. I must own up that I sometimes fast forward the ads but as long as they are paying you I suppose it doesn’t matter.

    ‘Haul butt.’ What does that mean? Pulling bottom?

    I jest.

    Best wishes

    John Ashton on July 11th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
  22. #22

    Hi Scott,

    Thanks for a great idea but I couldn’t get the steps to work. First, the part about selecting the layers did NOT make a selection around the photos. Then the part about filling the background to make the mat around the photos also wouldn’t work. I’ve rewound the video and played it 29 times but I think there may be some steps missing or I’m dumber than a 5th grader! Can you have someone on your staff follow the steps and see if they can create the calendar? Thanks again for an awesome idea . . . if I can only get it to work!

    Rene Griffith on July 11th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
  23. #23

    Rene,
    when you hold the cntrl button, don’t click on the layer in the layers pallette.
    Click on the thumbnail of that layer in the layers pallette!
    That might be what you’re missing.
    Please post up if that helps.
    -Mark

    Mark on July 11th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
  24. #24

    Hey Scott,
    After reading some of the comments earlier today and letting them sink in a little, I needed to add an additional comment.

    Your blog followers are becoming like a family. We will have disagreements as any family will. However, when the day is done, like family, we will all sit around the table, laugh it off then head into the den and watch Photoshop TV , looking forward to the next day together.

    In my prior life, I was a manager of a large engineering group responsible for developing new machine automation concepts. I always tried to create an atmosphere that allowed minds to be creative. That included joking around, off the wall brainstorming and just not taking ourselves to serious. It was my belief that when inventive people are under pressure and uptight the creative juice stops flowing. Others disagreed with my methods and I took a lot of flack, however for 25 + years we always came through with the innovation required to keep us ahead of our competitors.

    Having attended several NAPP seminars and having watch Photoshop TV from day one (now that was serious TV :) ) I’m requesting that you not change a thing. You have got the right formula, it works. You and the other NAPP guys CAN teach an old dog new tricks and make it fun at the same time.

    I enjoy watching you guys because you DO NOT take yourselves seriously, but you take what you are doing serious. You are enjoying what you do and because of that, others are less intimidated to try something new and different.

    You probably walk a fine line trying to satisfy all the skill levels you encounter and as someone else mentioned earlier between Kelby Training and NAPP member site access, you seem to cover all the bases.

    Thanks for taking the time everyday ( well except for Wednesday , Saturday and Sunday, gee, I just realized that you are actually a slacker :) ) to add a little humor into a sometimes to serious world.

    Peter M on July 11th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
  25. #25

    Maybe I’m blind, but I can’t find any link to the calendar tutorial using Photoshop CS3. Where is it?

    Bob Graf on July 11th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
  26. #26

    The whole thing about Photoshop is that it is complicated.

    NAPP and PhotoshopUser TV makes Photoshop easier to digest. This is done with humor. Same for the books. That’s why there are NAPP members.

    Al Marsh on July 11th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
  27. #27

    Scott,
    I just found out my schedule has changed, and I’ll be able to attend PSW! I’m psyched!
    As usual, your tutorial was great (do you get tired of hearing that???). HOWEVER, you left us hanging on one small point. What about the BOTTOM of the calendar… you know, the little part with all the number thingies on the page. Do you have a preferred method for creating the weeks/days?
    Thanks again!

    L Lancaster on July 11th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
  28. #28

    Hi Scott,

    I just want to thank you - not only for your work on PSUTV, but also on your blog! I always find great info, and even when you decided not to blog on Wed (which, you were of course still blogging just to say you wouldn’t be blogging), I still wondered how you still did it every week. Every day, tons of content.

    I’m a big fan of yours, a member of NAPP, and purchaser and reader of your books. I sometimes call the Photoshop guys “The National Association of Photoshop Goof-balls” to my wife, but she knows I never miss an episode - in fact, I can’t wait every Monday until I can download and watch the latest. As for the corny and goofy stuff you guys do, it makes it fun to see you guys are enjoying it, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Thanks for all the info and laughs. Keep up the pointy and choppy, and that thing you’re not supposed to do in Europe. =D

    Steve on July 11th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
  29. #29

    Hi Scott,

    thanks for this great calendar tutorial! On monday, I will go on vacation to Croatia, taking pictures and when I am home again, I will try out your technique and print out a professional looking calendar.

    And to PSUTV: I simply LOVE this show! I can’t wait to see the latest episode! But I have a question: would it be possible to provide maybe the last 5 episodes on iTunes, instead of only the last one?

    Thanks,
    Markus from Germany

    Markus Hörster on July 12th, 2008 at 5:50 am
  30. #30

    Why does my last post say “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”?

    Karl-Franz on July 12th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
  31. #31

    Hi Karl-Franz:
    A better question is, “Why didn’t the post you just posted say that?”

    I don’t have moderation turned on for any of my comments, so I have no idea whatsoever. I would try reposting it if I were you.

    Sorry for the problem. Wish I had an answer.

    -Scott

    Scott on July 12th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
  32. #32

    Scott: 1. Photo TV show is great the way it is. We would not want a single change in the format of your free weekly program since your guys have an individual freshness charm and humor that cannot be matched. I will always remember the episode with the steaming coffee shot episode: a classic episode (over a year ago) to be compared to any Keaton silent film for its great comedy.

    2. The video on calendar design you just posted is invaluable to me. I did think that one makes a duplicate image by option-command not shift-command as you stated in the video- I first select in the tool palette the
    selector arrow; then click on option-command,and move from the original image to a duplicate. This works for me, not when I click on shift-command. When this a slip of the tongue or have I misunderstood?

    3. Can you consider having your team create a written sequentially tutorial in steps as a tutorial what is on the video, as it would
    be really helpful; or promise in your next book you will add this process
    since the video moves too fast,and does not always explain the complexity of the process you now take for granted?

    4. I feel like the fifth chef in your kitchen asking you: how many eggs?

    5. Scott: your compassion to help people learn photoshop is without comparison. I thank your for your continued excellence in making digital photography an amazing adventure,and your sense of humor in knowing the difference between the process of creativity,and the joy of being human in reaching one’s goal.

    Anna Franke on July 12th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
  33. #33

    Well, here goes my second attempt of my original post. Apologies if it is a repeat:
    ————————————————
    Scott, buddy, are you OK? Your voice has that “sore throat, just got over a cold” quality. Or maybe it’s your “Barry White soulful bedroom voice”. LOL!

    To the poster who got the error that the “video is no longer available”:
    One of the annoying things of embedded YouTube videos is that they seem to go stale or have an expiration. If you load a web page but don’t play the video within 5 or 10 minutes or so, you will get the error message saying that the video is no longer available once you click on the play button. If you simply reload (click Refresh) on your browser and try again the video will work.

    I think that YouTube made a very poor choice of wording for their error message and I’m sure many people simply assume that the video is gone and give up. A message that stated something along the lines of “Video playback timer expired. Refresh the web page to load the video again.” would have been a much better choice.

    Cheers,
    Karl-Franz

    Karl-Franz on July 12th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
  34. #34

    Scott,

    Oddly enough, If I take out the links to two of my websites from my signature at the bottom of the post, the message gets posted fine. If I leave the links in, I get the “Your comment is awaiting moderation.” message. Guess your blog software doesn’t like my websites :-)

    P.S. It’s raining like the end of the world on my side of the state (Melbourne, FL) right now. Are you getting a deluge on your side (Tampa) too? :-)

    Karl-Franz on July 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
  35. #35

    Great stuff Scott. I ALWAYS find something useful here. This tutorial rocks :D ~ Thanks

    Fakhra (UAE) on July 12th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
  36. #36

    Hi Scott, Great tutorial with a lot of very good tips.
    You didn’t teach just ho to make a calendar, you also gave so many other tips that I will have to watch the video few time taking som notes.
    :-)
    Paulo Jordao

    Paulo Jordao Photography on July 12th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
  37. #37

    Great stuff as usual Mr. Kelby!

    But Why, oh Why do you have to “SMACK” your lips so much when you speak into a microphone! I listened to a post of yours recently where you talked about typography and how you judge a restaurant’s food by the typeface on its menu. Well, to me, the same thing applies when I listen to you speak into a mic. What you have to say (which is always worthwhile) is made agonizing by your afformentioned habit.

    I hope I don’t come across as being cruel! That is honestly not my intent. I just think you would sound a lot more professional if you eliminated all those unnecessary SMACKS.

    Murray DeJager

    Murray DeJager on July 12th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
  38. #38

    Hey Scott,

    Great tutorial, I am definitely going to use this! Just re-upped my NAPP membership 3 months early — so I am locked into NAPP through March of 2010 (also did the auto-renew, so I ended up with 5 free months of membership) and couldn’t be happier! I also picked up a subscription to Layers magazine this time around. Everything I have learned about Photoshop CS3, I have learned from NAPP or blogs (Matt’s, Dave’s and yours) — well, Photoshop User TV too, but that’s NAPP.

    I appreciate all you have done to enhance my photography skills.

    Die Hard Fan and owner of a Scott Kelby library,

    Kris

    Kris on July 13th, 2008 at 11:21 am
  39. #39

    Hey Scott,

    My name is Ray I’m from Curacao (in the Caribbean) and I’m 18 year old I’m a big fan of you :D.
    Great tutorial I love the Design.
    I would like to know how to Design a Calendar with all the days of the month on it, is there a way that Photoshop or Illustrator can put the days of the month automatically ????

    Thank you very much for your time

    From you big fan of Curacao
    Ray

    Ray on July 15th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
  40. #40

    Hey Scott,

    I finally had a chance to work this tutorial. I feel it was very easy even if the way it was displayed cut off the left side. I used a different custom shape for the four corners.

    My question is about mpix. The only calendar on their home page is a one-year, one-page calendar. I did send them a question asking how I should submit my work, but do you know. I would like to do a family calendar with special events on the dates. You know, birthdays, anniverseries, etc.

    I will definately make one of my upcoming trip.

    See ya and keep on keepin’ on,

    Mike

    Mike on July 19th, 2008 at 10:58 pm

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Scott Kelby

Scott Kelby is the editor and publisher of Photoshop User Magazine, Layers magazine (the how-to magazine for everything Adobe®) and President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). Make sure you check out Scott's Gear *updated* and his Photography Portfolio.

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