Flip A Template
Expand your options by learning how to flip a template horizontally or vertically to fit your photos better! You’ll also learn how to adjust the drop shadows that get flipped along with the template.
Video 05-07: Flip A Template (4:39)
In this lesson, we'll take a look at another way you can customize a template by flipping it. Here I have three photos I want to put into a template, so I've chosen a template that I think will work well with them. You'll find this template, ql-greyscale-template-05.psd and the photos in the Part 5 lesson seven practice folder.
One of the template pieces will need to be stretched out a bit to accommodate this horizontal photo, and we've already talked about how to do that. On your template document, select the clipping mask you want to change by clicking on it with the Move tool. With Auto Select Layer checked, press Ctrl T in Windows or Command T on a Mac to get Transform options and click and drag from a side handle. I'll bring this out a little bit and up a little bit. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can always adjust it later on if necessary. Click on the checkmark to commit the change.
My biggest issue with this template though is that the vertical and horizontal rectangular photo clipping masks are on the wrong side for my photos. The girl in the vertical photo would be facing to the right and in the horizontal photo she'd be facing toward the left. So both photos would be looking away from each other toward the outside of the document. And for design purposes, it's much better to have faces looking inward toward each other. This problem can easily be fixed by flipping the entire template horizontally. So let's do that. In the Menu Bar, choose Image, Rotate, Flip Horizontal. Now my photos will be facing the correct direction.
For these photos, I also prefer having the circle at the bottom instead of at the top. Again, no problem. I'll just flip the template vertically by choosing Image, Rotate, Flip Vertical. By the way, to avoid confusion, let me point out that the Image Rotate menu has two sections specifically for rotating. In the top section, all the rotate options will rotate the entire document, including all the layers in it, which is what I just did. Then there is a dividing line and the next section will rotate only one or more selected layers within the document. So make sure you're choosing the rotation you really want, whether it's a layer or the entire document.
Now that we've rotated the document, let's take care of a small problem. Notice that my drop shadows are now pointing up and to the left. That original template had shadows that pointed down and to the right, which is my preferred shadow direction. So when you flip a template, make sure you also adjust the drop shadow direction if it isn't what you want.
Select one of the template clipping masks, doesn't matter if it's a photo clipping mask, or a paper clipping mask. Double click on the Effects icon on the layer to get the Style Settings dialog box. Change the lighting angle to 120 or whatever angle you prefer, and click OK. This will change the angle of all the drop shadows in the entire document. If you think about it, most of the time, there's only one source of light and the shadows all go the same direction. So this ensures that all the shadows appear to come from the same light source.
Once you're finished flipping and adjusting the template, you're ready to duplicate the template, save it as a copy, and create your project, as I've done here, using skills I've already taught to you in past lessons. You'll find everything I use to create this page in the practice folder for this lesson. Notice that I used some white paint under one of the type layers. This paint element is in your practice folder. But because the paint is white, it may look like a blank file with nothing in it. That's just because it's white on a white background. But don't worry, it's a real element. And as soon as you put it over something that's darker, like this gray paper, it will show up. I actually lowered the opacity of the paint layer to 40% to make it more subtle. Here it is at 100%. But I'll press Ctrl Z and windows or Command Z on a Mac to go back to 40%.
So that's how to take a template and flip it so you can use it for your project.