I wrote this tutorial on my own.  Any similarity to another tutorial is purely coincidental.  I claim the copyright to my tutorial. You are free to do whatever you please with what you make, but please do not take my tutorial.  Do not send the tutorial through email.  Only share my link.

This tutorial is intended for a beginner to learn about using channels to make alpha selections.  If you have any questions, please feel free to Email me.

To do this tutorial you will also need Photoshop CS or CS2.  You may download a free trial at Adobe.

Remember to save as a .psd file often!

Download the tree image.

1.  Open the tree image.  Image > Duplicate.  Close the original.

2.  Choose paint brush tool.  In top paintbrush toolbar, set the size = 2 - 3 pixels.  At the top right, click on the Brushes palette.  Then click on the words Brush Tip Shape.  Check Spacing, and set to 1%

3.  In the Layer Palette, click on the Channels Tab.  Then click on the menu arrow (circled)  and choose New Channel.

4.  If you want, you can give this channel a name.  I left it at Alpha 1.  Choose Selected Areas.  Click Ok

5.  With the Alpha 1 Channel highlighted, use the paintbrush and paint in some lines following the form of the tree, as shown below.  My color was white, but it will show up as red because that's the mask color we had chosen in the channel options box.

6.  Click on the Layers Tab in the Layer Palette. 

7.  In the top menu, click on Select > Load Selection from Alpha.  Choose the Alpha 1 Channel.  This will bring up the painted lines as selected regions.

8.  In the Layer Palette, right- click on the tree layer and choose Duplicate.  Duplicate one more time so that you have 3 copies.  click on the bottom layer to highlight it.

9.  In top menu, click Filter > Noise > Add Noise.  Set  Amount = 20%, Guassian, CHECK  Monochromatic

10.  In the Layer Palette, click on the middle layer.  In top menu, click Filter > Noise > Add Noise.  Change Amount = 30%.

11.  In the Layer Palette, click on the top layer.  In top menu, click Filter > Noise > Add Noise.  Change Amount = 40%.

Use the text tool to add text if you like.

12.  Now save this as a PSD image.  File > Save as.

13.  Open up Image Ready.

14.  In Image Ready, open up the file you just saved.

15.  In the Web Content Palette, click on the menu arrow and choose Palette Options.

16.  In the Palette Options Box, CHECK  Include Animation Frames.

17.  In the top menu, click Window > Animation

18.  In the Animation frame, click on the sec down arrow. 

19.  Set the frame delay = 0.1 seconds

20.  Click on the menu arrow on the right side of the Animation Frames box, and choose Copy Frame.

21.  Click on that menu arrow again, and choose Paste Frame

22.  In the Paste Frames box, choose Paste After Selection

23.  Repeat Steps 20 - 22, to get a 3rd frame.

24.  Click on the first frame.  Then in the Layers Palette, click on the eyes of the middle and top tree layers to HIDE them.

25.  Click on the second frame.  Then in the Layers Palette, HIDE the bottom and top tree layers.  UNHIDE the middle tree layer.

26.  Click on the third frame.  Then in the Layers Palette, HIDE the bottom and middle tree layers.  UNHIDE the top tree layer.

27.  Now save as an animated  GIF.  File > Save Optimized As....

 You can use this same process to trace the edges of images to make the edges glitter, like in the pic below:

 Please do not remove this tutorial from my site.  Share my url.