Shadow effect on text:On text you can add a shadow directly behind the text to make it stand out from distracting backgrounds and easier to read, especially when printed. I use the settings (starting from Layers>Layer Style>Blending Options>Drop Shadow on Adobe Photoshop 7.0) Multiply blend mode, 100% opacity, 0 px distance, 44% spread, and a 6 px size. Of course, I recommend that these settings and the shadow's color be toggled for different effects on different covers.
Removing an image's backgroundThere are various ways to go about removing an image's background, and it just depends on the pic you're working on which method is best. Here is a tutorial for extracting an image from its background:
http://www.photoshop...tout/cutout.htm I use this method when pics have alot of the background blended with what you want to keep, like if Kirk is headbanging and his hair is sticking out everywhere. I also sometimes find it easier to just make my eraser 3 pixels wide and delete the edges around the part of the pic I want to keep, zooming in several times so I can see what I'm doing; I usually use this method when the pic is pretty much a good outline, i.e. Kirk's hair isn't flying out everywhere, lol. You should mess around with these ideas and play with them, there are still other ways to make a pic stand out from its background or cover up its background without actually removing anything, and sometimes it creates awesome effects, like my 15 Jun 03 Nijmegen, Netherlands cover, all I did was paste the St. Anger fist over the pic, lower the opacity, change the blend mode, and zoom in with a 3 pixel brush to delete the part of the pic covering James, and it turned out perfect.
