Ultimate Photoshop Stuff

Photoshop Brushes

2009-02-15T10:05:00.001-08:00

Photoshop provides its users with a powerfull brush palette.These brushes options are numerous and just great:we'll just create a custom brush that we'll be able to save and use later.

Create a blank document,with a white background, press "B", and "F5" to open the brush palette, and get a circular hard brush:set it's diameter to 150, choose black color, and draw a single big black dot on the canvas.

This dot is the shape of the new brush you wanna create: now alter it anyway you want: you can blur the edges to make a softer brush, or just cut one half, whatever: we'll just cut one half,and crop the pic so you get this result

Now, to save it, you can either go to "edit/define brush", or click the small arrow on the brush palette to open its menu and choose "new brush", give it a name, and you'll find it at the bottom of your brush palette.

This brush may look very simple, it's just one half of a dot, but it allows you to work on curved or straight edges without having to change between a circle and a square brush....it's a time saver, just keep your brush palette open, and change the angle of the brush:

I made a whole set of stencils for myself so I can esaily work on selections in quick mask mode.

Further, you can use all these brushes for erasing, stamping, etc...for example,press (E) and "F5", and just choose the shape/options you want. This is especially usefull for creating scratches, dust, or any organic pattern.

OTHER OPTIONS: We have only used the basic options so far, but others are almost as usefull:on the pic below, I used the shape dynamics/size jitter option, set to 100, to draw an irregular shaped scar on the girl's face, and the brush option was associated with layer options to make the stroke look like a scar:

On the next, I set the brush opacity to 70, added some texture and set "roundness jitter" to 100 for more realism.

On the following pic, I added some some saturation jitter(color dynamics, wet edges, and noise), to make it even more messy.

You could also try different brush shapes ! what about a nice heart shaped scar?

There are hundreds of possible combinations of options, just try them so they serve your needs.

Cut and Paste Options

2009-02-15T10:03:00.001-08:00

The most important thing to master in Photoshop is how to perform perfect cut/paste operations.You may want to try effects, or illustration, a great pic is always simple, and CLEAN. No blurry edges.

There are many ways people like to select objects: you can isolate a RGB channel to focus on the one that is the most contrasted, or you may want to use the magic wand (W) with different levels of tolerance, or use the pen tool (P) and draw the edges, then transform the path into a selection.The last one is very precise, but not as much as editing in quick mask mode , and slower.

The quick masks work as a mask you would just cut in order to preserve a part of the image you don't want to edit, and they are bitmaped fill shapes, therefore you can paint them, erase them, blur them, whatever. let's have a try:

Open a pic and prepare your document as taught in my first tutorial.

Enter quick mask mode either by pressing "Q" or by clicking it.

Select a brush: you amy choose between a soft or hard brush: hard brushes will give the most precise results, but ask more work.

Paint the part you want to select: the selection will appear as a red shape

Here we wanted to select one of the toasts

You can easily change your the shape, size or angle of your brush by pressing "F5",according to the size of details you want to paint over.here's what you see once you have masked the toast.

Then leave the Quick mask mode by pressing "Q", and see if the selection suits you, if it doesn't just go back to quick mask mode and erase/paint the parts that you dont like.

Your selection is ready.

This is especially helpfull for low res pics , or when the edges are not obvious: it lets your eye choose what to keep, and what to cast, and it's always better than to let Photoshop do it for you.

Once you have your selection ready, save it ! you can either save it with "select/save selection/new channel", or create a mask layer,so you can use it later:

a: create a new layer on top of the selected object

b: fill the selected area of the new layer with black or white

Now you can recall the selection by simply CTRL+clicking on the mask layer, even when it is hidden.

Practice this on different pictures: hair, clouds, grass, objects, whatever.

This allows you , like vector based selections , to work in a non destructive way, so you can always go back and try something different.

Photoshop Introduction

2009-02-15T10:02:00.001-08:00

You may find just as many tutorials as you want on the web,the fact is that most of them will show you how to replicate an effect, etc....which is pretty useless, as long as many people dont know the basics of Photoshop. These tutorials will try to teach you how to use Pshop by yourself, not in order to make effects, but in order to edit photographs.

1: Before we start

Photoshop was a tool made by photographers, for photographers, there fore you have to understand that you have to get some basic knowledge about RGB, and bitmap.

Every photograph has a bitmap format, which means it is composed of pixels; you can edit any of these pixels properties. RGB is the colour mode that will most often use: Red, Green, Blue; these colours work in an additive mode, which means that any other colour will result in the addition of one the fundamental Red, green, and Blue.This will be usefull when you get to work on layer blending modes.Filters were basically the same ones as you found on cameras, so try to think of them in a photographic, non illustrative way.

2: Preparing a document

Whether you want to edit a picture or create a new document, you'll have to do one or two things in order to ease and secure your workflow:

a:increase the resolution: you'll have to work on details, so just go to "edit/image size" and enter 300 dpi instead of 72, or do the same operation by right clicking on the pic's menu:

b:unlock the background layer, by simply double clicking on it and hitting enter, so you can edit it.

c:duplicate this layer so you can alter it and restore it if needed.

d:hide the lowest layer so you actually see how you alter the layer you're editing.

3: Separating elements

You may want to seperate the differents elements of the picture to get them on different layers.It is useless if you plan to use only a small part of it, but in case you don't know what to do with your pic, just separate the elements : it will help you get ideas as you you can try to put them in different settings, etc...

4: Get to work

Whatever you'll want to do, you have two options that may help you secure your document:

a: duplicate every critical layer before you alter it

b: take snapshots of its history before every critical operation

These tips may sound a bit boring, but these are the ones you'll want to use when you have to work on a document for hours, or after you have experienced the disappointment of not being able to undo.

General Design Tips

2009-02-15T10:01:00.001-08:00

Photo editing, or illustration may be practiced for fun, but no one can pretend being a "designer" without knowing the rules of graphic design.Many people think that being original, and thinking out of the box is a good thing, but it actually isn't if you don't follow the rules...Even the weirdest looking ads,or the funniest ones, follow these rules.

You have to know that the colors that are used in a picture always give a feeling to its spectator; colors are assiociated with feelings, mood, temperature, concepts, they are true symbols; for example , you may have noticed from watching ads, or packages, that white and blue are associated with products that have hygienical purposes, or that plain red is used to warn for danger, or that purple is used for expressing wealth, or luxury.Just because these colors have a true meaning in everyone's mind.

As you always have to keep this in mind when you design something, you have to remember not to please yourself, but to please the consummer, and that the picture you make should not express your own feelings, but a message.

On the other hand, when you make a picture with an artistic purpose, you have to express your own feelings, whatever they might be, but in these two different situations, colors are tools that you have to master.Therefore, you should always remember that the viewer's eye may be more sharp, accurate, sensitive, than yours.

Shapes:

Whether you work on a photography, or design a web page, or a logo, you should be able to see the basic shapes that compose it.The basic shapes you will use are square, circle, and triangle, any of them being composed of lines, and dots.

- the square expresses, or shows a structure, a frame.

- the circle has two properties: it is a target the eye focuses on, and it is also seen as an element of an organic, or abstract strucure (ex:molecule, planets, bubbles)

- the triangle is a perfectly balanced and stable shape that expresses energy.It can also show a direction when the size of its sides is altered.

Simplicity:

Here I want to demonstrate by the simplest possible way to make an "eye catching" picture: the last 20 years of advertisement have constantly tried to find new means of catching the consumer's eye, with flashy colors, pictures full of effects, they gradually put more and more things in the sceneries they created, untill it became too much, and meaningless.Here's the most eye catching picture you'll ever see:

This simple dot on a white rectangle is the structure used by almost every picture, poster ad, commercial web page, because our use of the latin alphabet got our brain accustomed to reading a page from its upper left corner to its lower right corner.In the pic, the grey rectangle is the frame that the eye watches into, the black dot is a target for the eye, and its power is multiplied by the highest contrast possible (B/W).If the dot had been a pale grey, it would have made the eye look for it, and concentrate on it, inducing questions into the viewer's mind ; if it had been a killer red, it would have been too agressive to be looked at.

Although all this may sound a bit too simple, or abstract, these are the basics of designing, and composing a picture.Every artistic director is aware of their importance. So just try to analyse the composition of the pictures you see around you, paintings, ads, web pages, book covers,...it will help you understand this, and assimilate these rules so you can use them efficiently.No way this small explanation could be complete, it just means to make you always remember that "the less, the better".Always ask yourself these questions before you decide your work is over:

-Does the foreground object really need a background ?

-What do my eyes focus on when I watch the pic ?

-Do the colors need to be more or less contrasted and saturated ?

-How much time does it take an average viewer to understand the pic ?

-Would I like this pic if it was made by someone else than me ? :)

These questions apply to designers, but also to artists, so always keep the layers in your PSD file handy so you can fix what you dont like.

Blending Layer Modes

2009-02-15T09:59:00.001-08:00

The layers blending modes are the quintessence and the most powerfull aspect of Photoshop. They interact with eachother differently according to the colors and modes you use; but before get try some funny stuff, we should understand the basics:

As said in the first lesson, RGB colors work in an additive way:

It means that when you mix two colors, the result will be a lighter color than the ones you used,the more you mix, the lighter it gets, untill it gets white.On the RGB pic I made , I used nothing but 3 dots and the "lighten" blending mode.RGB colors work in the opposite way of CMYK, with are "substractive" colors (the more you mix, the darker it gets).

You do not need this to use the layers blending modes for fun, but you need it to understand how they work, because when you blend layers, you decide what way their colors interact.

Now you know this, let's try something fun. View the apple pic and get it ready to be worked on: separate, adjust colours, duplicate layers.For trying something different, just duplicate the apple layer and choose "overlay" mode for the top layer, it will make the pic look much better, then just use ctrl+L to adjust it. It looks ok to me:

Open the paper texture pic:

Prepare it, and paste it into the apple pic, on the top of the other layers.Resize it, place the fold into the apple, and do this: have the paper layer selected, CTRL+click on the apple layer, CTRL+SHIFT+I and delete , in order to cut the paper that is out of the apple's shape. Duplicate it for safety:

Now ,before you try things, take a new history snapshot: it will allow you to go back to this state of the document whenever you want just click on the "new snapshot" thumbnail to go back.

Desaturate the paper (CTRL+SHIFT+U) and just try all the color modes, because you may never predict exactly what result you could get, and so you get to know them all; personnaly, I prefer the result produced by the overlay mode.As the result is not obvious enough, you can either add contrast, or use the levels, I prefer to duplicate the layer and try another mode instead: chose "multiply" for the top paper layer, and the result looks cool:

Now I suggest we only keep the folded part of the paper, to make the difference between it's texture and the smooth spherical aspect of the apple.CTRL+click the apple layer, press CTRL+SHIFT+I,press "Q",get a large soft brush and paint the parts you dont want to keep, the mask should look like here:

Press "Q",select the top paper layer and delete.Do the same on the other paper layer, press CTRL+D, the result you should have is the one shown here:

Create a new layer on the top of all layers, hide the white background, select the new layer, and press ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+E to merge all visible layers into the one you have just created:

ALT+click on the eye next to the thumbnail to hide all the layers below, click the eye next to the background's layer to show it, now you can work on your apple.Press "E" and erase the parts you dont like, adjust the colors,soften the edges a bit, cast a shadow, and appreciate the result.

Et voilà ! it may not be the coolest picture ever, but at least you've learnt how to use layers blending modes so you can try other pics by yourself. I tried to add a skin texture on the following. Try some and have fun.

Layer Blending Optons

2009-02-15T09:56:00.001-08:00

As you may have noticed, the bevel option is very very cool, as it lets you make a pasted object more realistic, though it is more obvious when it is set with a background, so the depth cue is more obvious.When you buy Photoshop, you discover you have many layer styles that are pretty useless, according to me they are just included so you get to learn how they work.

Now we'll learn how to texturize an object:

Prepare the pic, and create a new blank layer on top of the yoghurt(CTRL+SHIFT+N). Press (T) and type a big "PSC" , and use the warp text button shown:

to warp the text with "bulge", so it fits the yoghurt.Rasterize the text layer, and CTRL+T to add perspective and distort it.Then CTRL+CLICK the yoghurt layer so you load its transparency map as a selection on the text layer, press CTRL+SHIFT+X to enter "liquify", use the "bloat brush"(B) to stretch the text, press enter,CTRL+D to deselect, and CTRL+T to transform it so it fits the glass perfectly, so you get something like this:

Now select the yoghurt layer, and CTRL+CLICK the text layer, so you load its transparency map as a selection on the yoghurt layer,CTRL+C/CTRL+V, hide the top text layer, you'll get this:

Now we have a text shaped part of the glass...double click its layer thumbnail to enter the options: we'll make a beveled text effect on the glass. Activate "bevel/emboss": I chose the settings shown:

to make the bevel boss, with some thin carved edges, so the text appears like it was stamped onto the glass; the gloss contour should be irregular as glass is organic, so it replicates the kind of refelection it would produce...look at the settings and try others by yourself.I checked the contour option to make the edges look more precise.

Press ENTER to validate your options, and add a 0,3 gaussian blur.AS I didn't really like the result, I lowered the layer's opacity and transformed the text again.I also scaled the effects to 10% by clicking the "f" icon on the layer and chosing scale effect.

I added a shadow, and I like it enough to say it's over.

Color and Luminosity

2009-02-15T09:48:00.001-08:00

Color modes , luminosity, and printing basics

Light is the basis of photography, therefore it's the part one has to master in order to produce consistent pics, but it is also the toughest part.From correcting the colors, the exposition, painting the highlights and shadows, and/or reflections, handling glossiness, light should be the center of your preocupations.

This photo was quickly enhanced : the overlay mode lets you emphasize every aspect of the pic, and is very usefull to add definition and to raise the overall contrast, but it also tends to saturate/flatten the colors.

The first thing to notice in a pic is the nature of the lights it contains: is it a direct light (a bulb or spotlight), an ambient light ( like in a very foggy weather), or a sunlight, or a non dirct light ( when an object receives the light from another object, by reflection, ie a person receives light from a white wall, or a gobo).Each type of light has its own ways to diffuse colors, create highlights and shadows, etc.

Important: you have to be aware that all these enhancements are made without taking care of the printing process, and especially shadows and highlights need adjustment to be printed properly.Using the overlay mode often saturates the colors, which may not be visible on a monitor, but will give horrible results on paper: ie, a saturated highlight will give a white, unprinted stain on the paper.

Anyway you have to make the luminosity of the shadows/highlights match the one of the pic you work on.A pic with low contrast, but highly contrasted shadows/highlights will suck, try to abuse the levels on a random pic to have an idea of the result.

Photoshop was invented before web graphics , and was develloped in order to fullfill the needs of prepress operators; the web graphic designers do not have to deal with other color modes than RGB and web color modes, which means they handle Photoshop in the easiest way they can, unless they have to submit a printed project before they start working.In this case, they need to handle CMYK, and alter the colors in their pic so they are printed correctly :A job in itself, ask Jerry717.

Each work space has uses its own color mode:

-The monitor uses additive color, composed of combinations of red, green and blue, emited from the monitor.

-A printer uses substractive colors, composed of combinations of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, which are the colors of the inks used by the printers.the range of colors they can produce (gamut) is narrower than the one of RGB.This is why some colors produced on a monitor in RGB mode will not be printed at all.

-Photoshop uses the LAB mode, which contains all the other existing modes.It means that the LAB mode has the widest gamut, containing all the colors available.L stands for luminosity, A is the green/red value, and B is the blue/yellow value.The programm uses this mode every time you convert a pic from a color mode to another, so it has absolute values.

Having to handle these modes will make you use photoshop commands and options you may have never heard of, though they exist for sure.Let's try something: imagine you have chopped a nice pic for an ad that will be printed in a magazine.You've been working as usually in RGB, and you convert it to CMYK before you send it to the printer.If you think your work is over you have 90% of chances not to get paid.For the example I took a pic I made some time ago, no showoff intended, just an example...

I saturated the colors a bit so what I want to demonstrate becomes obvious.the original is pic 3.Pic 4 is what you get when you set the proof colors options on, with for example the japan 2001 coated profile, and gamut warning on.

pic3

pic4

Now you see how the pic that looked so nice on your monitor would end up once printed on a japanese printer.The gamut warning shows you that some colors just wont even be printed, flattening highlights and shadows.Here, the usual RGB tricks don't work.You have to correct each color channel to desaturate it, so its luminosity can be printed: you can do it in so many possible ways that I'll only mention a few; you can use the replace color command, or the levels/curves/hue commands on a selected color, or channel, you can paint over the unmatching color, use some blending modes tricks...The best solution would have been to start working on the pic in the proper mode, with the proof color and gamut warning options on.

Whatever the calibration device you use, you'll always have to proof your pic by printing it on the printer's device, because the way printers handle colors is different from one printer to another, even if the printer's model is the same.That's why I say that amateurish and professionnal photoshopping are totally different: working in RGB, 72 ppi, allows one to make technically sharp pics, but having to work in CMYK 300 ppi (at least), having to prepare, correct and enhance the colors, and proof them wont let one a single second for creative research.The fact is there are thousands of good photoshoppers on the market, considering themselves as "above the rest", or avant-garde, but there are no jobs for them, unless they are asked to produce graphics that will only be displayed on a monitor.Using 50% of the program doesn't make them professionnal choppers, and they wont be allowed to express their creativity unless they can make their pics look good on paper (try view/proof setup/simulate paper black/ink black to have an idea of the result).

History

2009-02-15T09:46:00.001-08:00

History palette:

The history palette is just like a fantastic expansion of the edit menu: it lets you handle different states of your documents so you can always go back, it lets you save some RAM, and is especially usefull when you submit different versions of a project.

When I made my jeans boots, my file soon ended up with more than 50 layers which included masks, adjustment layers, etc. Very hard to handle, both for me and Photo-shop, and very risky.Also,I needed to be able to go back at some early states of my document, therefore I created history snapshots before every critical operation : if you look at your history palette, you'll notice it displays every operation you made

Just try it: open a document, and change its hue (CTRL+U) to change its color, repeat twice, with different colors..(ie: red, green, yellow).Then your history palette should look like this

Now, by clicking on the different history states, you can compare, get rid of one state by draging it into the trash can at the bottom of the palette, or create a new document from it...and this is the most usefull tool, as it lets you work on a new documpent, you can just save and close your original file to be sure you dont destroy/alter it.Also, when you work on a file that involves all your RAM ressources because it's huge, and have finished preparing it, create a new document from its current state , then flatten the layers, and work easily on it to correct colors, or do some various final retouching operations.

For instance, I want to make a pic in which I have different versions of the boots.As the boots are composed of 40+ layers, I have to flatten them all, so I take a snapshot of its current state so I can go back to it

now just merge all layers into a new layer on top of the above as done in the previous lessons, (ctrl+shift+N, then alt+ctrl+shift+E), and I create a new document from this state so I can work easily on it, without all the ressource taking non visible layers

Now I can save and close the original file, and work only on the recently created one, and I can delete all the layers I dont need anymore , and keep only the one I have merged all the visible layers into.The easiest way to do it it to toggle off all these layers , by ALT+clicking on the eye on the layer you want to keep, and then choose "delete hidden layers" from the layer palette menu

Now you you have a safe original file, which contains all your masks, etc, and a new file it is safe to work on.Since I had to use 4 different files to make the boots, I could not even imagine what I should have done if I had had to work with limited undos. Hopefully this will prevent you from making pics that don't look the way you want them to just because you can't go back.

Masks

2009-02-15T09:42:00.001-08:00

As you might, masks are nothing but bitmap shapes, gradients...they're called transparency maps....I'll call it "TM" because I don't want to type it over and over.So the quick mask mode consists in adding a layer, painting it with 50% transparency, and transforming it into a selection, and this is possible thanks to TMs.

First download the pic of Lucille, we'll select her hair thanks to a mask.

Prepare it , get a soft brush,press Q, and start painting the hair.Use very small , soft brushes for thin hairs, and larger soft brushes for the dense hair mass.The quick mask result is

Then, we will mask the part opposite to the selection we just drew, for convenience: press Q, CTRL+SHIFT+N, and paint the selected area white

here's a mask.Save.

Now you have a poseable wig for further use.This part was not the goal of the job, but only a step in preparing the pic, though it is this lesson's subject: it allows you to alter each decisive part differently.Lets prepare the rest.

CTRL+click on the mask's layer, hide it, and press Q and CTRL+I
paint the body of Lucille, so you have her face and body masked.
The goal is to create a mask of the background.Press Q, paint white.Now you have a mask for the hair, and one for the background, you want to have the negative masks handy for further selections.Select your background mask layer, create a new layer on top of it, CTRL+click your backgroung mask, press CTRL+SHIFT+I, and paint the selection black.Repeat the same operation with the hair mask: now you have two masks and their negatives.

Hide all the masks by ALT+clicking on the eye near the lucille layer: we want to isolate the skin (body/face): ctrl+click on the negative of the background (N1), and ctrl+shift+click on the negative of the hair to add its TM to the selection, now you should have selected the body+hair; press CTRL+SHIFT+I, create a new layer on top of the others, and paint white: now you have a mask for the background.

You now have masks for every decisive part of the picture, and you call transform their TM into a selection by CTRL+clicking on their layer.No need to save the selections through the select menu (exactly the same though as PShop creates new channels) , you have them visible and handy on layers.

REMEMBER THIS:

to recall a transparency map: CTRL+click on a layer

to add a mask's TM to selection: CTRL+SHIFT+click on its layer

to sunstract a mask's TM to selection: CTRL+ALT+click on its layer

to intersect with previous selection: CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+click on its layer.

Always name your layers so it doesn't get messy....and save after you have accomplished a hand made task, like painting a mask.

Textures

2009-02-15T09:12:00.001-08:00

HOW DO TEXTURES WORK

Here I want to explain some of the terms you have to understand when you come to creating textures for 2D or 3D rendering:

the aspect of a "texture" is obtained my mixing different channels and/or maps, and we have to give a definition for every of them:

ALPHA: the alpha channel is noting but a greyscale channel, which gives some depth to a picture : the darkest pixels look "deeper", and the brightest pixels look like the highest points: that's what you get when you use the bevel option: it creates a B/W layer to simulate a highlight and a shadow.Also, for those who use the texturizer effect of Pshop, you'll notice that the preset textures are B/W : it just adds an alpha channel to the picture.This is what 3D designers call "bump mapping", it doesn't create a real 3D bevel, but simulates it.

DISPLACEMENT: displacement is somehow a bit more complex, and has an incidence on the structure of the object you apply it to, whereas texture, or material works by adding something to an object.If you try the displacement filter in Pshop, you'll notice that the alpha channel of the file yo use as a displacement map can erase some parts of the object, and in 3D applications, it will actually lower or raise some parts of the object, creating true 3D displacement.

MATERIAL: material is the combination of a texture, a displacement map, a transparency map, a refraction map, a color diffusion map, a reflection map,and many others...it uses different 2D maps, and (in 3D), algorythmes to creat a group of settings that make a material.

TEXTURE: now we can finally really understand what textures are: nothing more than a color diffusion map you add to an object, or, if you prefer, a 2D only material.

Below, you can see the different maps that compose a material

Now try it by yourself, and find the layer blending modes that suit your map the best: doing it will teach you to understand how colors and maps wotk together to create the appearance of a real 3D texture.In the early days of 3D, designers used to create every of the maps that make a material from scratch in Pshop for their 3D purposes, think of it, the results were amazing.

More luminosity

2009-02-15T09:06:00.001-08:00

I'll say it again: luminosity is the key to making good pictures; for those who don't know , PHOTOgraphy means "light-print".Photo means light (photon), when your eyes see an object , it doesn't see the object but the light it reflects, absorbs, and/or emits.The intensity of light , it's tint, falloff , difuse map are what make your brain recognize an object.Therefore, everything you do when you retouch a photo is to alter the caracteristics of its light; a good , simple example is when you enhance a landscape : you'll use curves, hue, etc, that all are commands that alter the luminosity.Since 99% of you work on RGB monitors, photo retouching consists in altering the value of each red, green and blue pixel in a picture, modyfying the light it emits.

I just wrote this part because most people don't think of that and therefore dont understand the way photoshop works, and wonder why I emphasize so much on luminosity.Now I'll share some luminosity correction tips so you can practice :

1: bad exposition

You just shot a pic , and the fact is that the exposition is bad: some parts are visible, some are too dark.uneven luminosity.Here's a pic of my nephew Lucas:

O bviously the background on the left is too dark, so let's try this :

D uplicate the layer, (ctrl+j), invert the luminosity of the duplicate (ctrl+i), put it in soft light mode, and give it a 9.0 gaussian blur:hooray the dark part is now visible !

The problem is that it also altered the luminosity of the kid, therefore just duplicate the soft light layer for safety, turn it off, and erase the part of the visible one that overlaps Lucas with a large soft brush to get rid of the luminosity settings the layer contains , and so you restore his original luminosity

You can see the shape of the layer in the layer palette: that's a way to correct bad exposition , and even a pic's luminosity in a non destructive way.

2: Low contrast

If you shoot a pic and it has a low contrast, it means that his alpha channel, or luminosity values are too modrate, low, even; in other words, the black point and light point are not visible enough: I lowered the contrast on the pic of Lucas to make an example

You have two very good ways to fix it:

A: create a luminosity map:

Duplicate the layer, desaturate it (ctrl+shift+U), put it in luminosity mode, and press ctrl+L

You can fix the saturation by adding a little, and it's done!

Just compare with pic 4 to see if you like it.

B:Jerry's trick:

Jerry717 taught me and a few others that were on the discussion board this trick; it's a very good example as it is efficient, easy, and practicing it will make you understand the whole luminosity thing.

Take pic#4, create a curves adjustment layer over it; double click the eyedropper on the right

And fill in the rgb values with "250" : this prevents the picture to contain a white point that would contain extreme, non printable color values.Press enter, and , again with the same eyedropper, click on the bright part of Lucas' t-shirt.

Now double click on the left eyedropper (set black point), and enter "3" as rgb values for r, g, and b.press enter and click in the darkest zone in the left side upper part of the pic .

Now do the same with the center eyedropper (set gray point), enter "128" as rgb values: this makes your pic have the right, neutral color values.then click the eyedropper where the arrow points at in pic 8

This sets the gray point of the picture , and makes it get rid of the opposite color that it contains.Try it everywhere on the pic to understand what I mean.

Now just press enter to get out of the curves layer, duplicate the layer and do this :put the adjustment layer in luminosity mode, duplicate it, and put the copy in color mode.This lets you tweak each different settings aprt from the others.Otherwise if you like the original result, just put your adjustment layer in normal mode...the result I have is this one

The great thing about jerry's trick is that it also prepares the pic for printing, since it implies good black point and light point values, both for the eye and the printer.Thank you Jerry !!!!

Photoshop CS added a "shadow/highlight" command that basically does the same, but it doesn't explain you how it works....I prefer the old way.

You could have tried the second trick "luminosity layer" with an overlay layer instead.....just try some more, using opposite values, deasturated layers so you understand precisely how this works.

Pen Tool as Mask Selector

2009-02-15T08:55:00.001-08:00

My Happy Toaster

One of the main things that every PhotoChopper needs to know is how to free-up, or separate, different parts of an image. With programs like Photoshop there are a number of ways to do this. But this particular tutorial will deal with one of my favorite way to get this sometimes challenging job done. And the main tool for this tutorial will be:

THE PEN TOOL

Although there are a number of sub-tool-types for this item, we will be focusing on the basic Pen Tool which is accessed under the icon shown above on your PS tool bar. Choose it by clicking on the icon, or for bonus points use the keyboard shortcut by pressing "P" to select it.

Open a simple (160 x 120) pixel NEW IMAGE. Take the pen tool and click on it in two places: You'll note that you get a straight line connecting where you click (see A). If you keep clicking different places, you'll continue to get more straight lines connecting the dots.

You've just created a PATH. So far so boring. Let's get into the FUN part of the pen tool - Bezier Curves!

But first, clear your current 'work path' by going to your PATHS palette (find under Windows: PATHS if you can't find it already open somewhere). There should be a 'layer' labeled WORK PATH. Click on it and then click the TRASH CAN at the bottom of the path palette (or drag that path to the TRASH CAN). This clears the previous path you were working on.

Now create another NEW IMAGE. This time click once and then, when you do the following clicks HOLD DOWN THE MOUSE BUTTON (do not release). WOW, things start happening!

First thing you'll notice is that the connecting line curves, and depending on how you move the mouse around BEFORE RELEASING IT it curves differently. The second thing you'll notice is that little "knobs" or "antenna" sprout out of the line. The places you've clicked will have empty circles, and are called ANCHOR POINTS. The "knobs" will show up as smaller and black. These are called CONTROL POINTS, or DIRECTION POINTS and will normally show up on both sides of the ANCHOR points.

While the PEN TOOL is active you can change how the curve behaves in real time. If you (on PCs) hold down the CNTRL key you'll get a hollow white arrow. With this tool you can move the ANCHOR points around and reposition them, and also move the DIRECTION POINTS to adjust how the line curves. If you instead hold down the ALT key you'll get a little "V" arrow - with this tool you can change the angle of the CONTROL points for more drastic (and more accurate) curve behaviors.

In this case, to free the toaster!!

You can use the picture of any toaster to practice.

By using the PEN tool and carefully 'tracing' around the toaster I have created a PATH. The picture below will show you a closer detail of the PATH tracing.

As you can see, the path is not pixilated but remains flexible. With practice you learn how to "ride the edge of the pixels" to best advantage.

If you make an error you can use the PATH adjustment tools to bend it to your will until you have your object perfectly surrounded!

Once you are happy with your path, you can click on the PATH OPTIONS arrow in the PATHS palette, and then choose SAVE PATH. This PATH will be saved with your PSD and you can still edit it to your heart's content at any time in the future. Or copy it and have a few "edits" of the path saved. A PATH is much more flexible for solid edged objects than a normal Selection.

With the PEN TOOL selected RIGHT CLICK (PCs) on the path you've just created. You'll get a pop-up selection box similar to the one show at left.

Choose
MAKE SELECTION.

The toaster is now selected exactly following your PATH. Depending on which version of PS you have, the PATH is deselected and the Selection remains. If the path is still there, go to the PATH palette and select the gray space UNDER the PATH layer to deselect it.

Then, you can COPY the selected area into a new document, or CNTRL+J (PCs) to have PS copy the selected area into a new layer above the original.

The TOASTER IS NOW AN INDEPENDENT TOASTER.

Some of the benefits of using PATHS to create selections are:

you can save and re-edit the PATH at any time, and it is saved as part of the PSD file.
it creates a very clean 'cut' when forming a selection. Great for geometric shapes or objects with defined edges.
a PATH can also be TRACED with another tool, a Brush or Pencil. Great for creating a complex outline of an object.
once you master the PEN tools ANCHOR POINTS and DIRECTION POINTS (those knobby things!) you can create complex yet clean selections very quickly.

Cutting Up

2009-02-15T08:14:00.001-08:00

Walking the Dog

Our gal walking the dog has just come from the beach. Well, actually she never was in that field above, but she did have a walk on the beach.... stand bye for more!

Taking things from one image and putting them into another image is one of the basic concepts that one needs to master if one is to continue down the path to Photoshop Guruhood. I'll go step by step through this process and perhaps you'll pick up a few tips along the way.

ORIGINAL PIC #1

ORIGINAL PIC #2

Get chopping!

By using the PEN tool and carefully 'tracing' around the girl and dog I created a path, which I then converted into a selection. ash. No telling what that dog would do if we didn't keep it on that leash!

We'll need our three-legged friend under separate control, so we'll chop him out now. Put a ruff lassoo around him cutting close where the lease attaches to his body.

Then press CNTRL+SHFT+J (PC) and he will be magically transported to a new separate layer.

(he really does only have three legs, another reason to keep that leash on him! Don't want him to loose another leg or he's in REAL trouble!)

So we've got a gal and a leash (be still my happy heart!) and a three legged dog. Let's get them off the beach.

Open up the original pic #2, the tree and the field. Here's a neat trick. Have the pic with the cut out gal and dog open on your desktop. And have the pic#2 also open on your desktop. Size them up so you can see both. MAKE SURE that you have the DOG layer and teh GIRL layer LINKED (click on the GIRL layer and then click in the gray empty box to the left of the DOG layer and a little "chain link" will appear).

Select the PICK tool and make sure that is checked. Click on the girl.
While holding the right mouse down drag the girl from her window into the tree/field pic and release. If you did it right the dog went obediently along with her, while maintaining his own layer! (you can use this method to drag multiple layers from pic to pic. You can also first put the layers in a folder as well, and then drag the folder from one pic to the other.)

okay, they are off the beach and in the field. One important point here is that I chose the field picture because it had a simular perspective to the beach picture. Also I made sure that the lighting was simular. Although you can play a lot with lighting and shadows in PS, it is always easier to pick well matched bits!

But it still looks a wee bit faked.

Firstly, she looks weird up there above the doggy. This is why I wanted to control Lucky (the three legged dog) separately.

make sure the dog layer is on TOP of the girl layer. Go to the LINK button and UN-LINK the girl and the dog (unleash them, so to speak!).

move the doggy UP the leash and towards the girl, then re-link them. Move them both into a more 'artisitaclly pleasing' position in the forground.

better, but not quite right yet. Let's see what be can do about their feet. And we also need to deal with the fact that they are casting NO shadows. Unless we are working on a vampire pic, this won't do!

zoom in on her feet. Take the lasso and do a ruff outline that roughly follows the shape of the grass and flowers around her feet. Don't worry about the bottom of the selection too much, the important part is the part that overlaps her shoes.

With the FIELD/TREE layer selected press CNTRL+J (no SHFT). This will magically put a copy of the selected area in a layer above the FIELD/TREE layer. Now take the copied layer and move it ABOVE the girl layer.

you'll see that her shoes look more "IN THE GRASS" now, but still a bit fake looking. Take the ERASER tool with about 40% opacitiy and a medium feathered edge and rub out and soften the sharp edges of the patched grass and flowers. You should get an effect simular to what is at left bottom.

You can get the same idea without cutting out extra grass but using the clone tool / rubber stamp tool. But I like this way as it leaves me a layer that I can change or modify later.

Do the same to the doggies three legs!

Okay, looking at the original beach picture we can see that there is some shadow action happening there. Analizing the original shadows we see the size and angle they need to be. Create a NEW LAYER above the FIELD/TREE layer but BELOW the dog and girl layer. I used the lassoo to draw a rough selection approximating the shadow shape. I then filled it with 100% black. Since the grass and flowers is a less flat surface than the sand, the shadow need to be softer. I used GUASSIAN BLUR and then put the opacity of the shadow layer to about 40%. The girl is done, the dog is still in the unedited shadow stage.

Almost Done! As it stands, not too bad. But being a photographer I know that there is one more thing we can do to make this an interesting picture. The composition is good with the dog and the girl and the tree forming a nice triangle flow. But that tree is just a wee bit too overbearing. I want the viewer to really track the girl and Lucky, and not notice the tree as much. So I'll apply some "depth of field" to the background.

Depth of field is a great way to control a busy background, and keep the viewers eyes on the forground. With a pro camera you set the lense in a way that the focus drops off behind the subject. Since my background was originally shot to be sharp all over we'll have to let Photoshop help us out in the post-production phase.

Hide the Girl/Dog/Shadows/grass layers for now. Select the FIELD/TREE layer and then using the lassoo tool draw a rough line along the field just in front of the tree. If you look close you'll see there is a natural line of the field grass where you can divide your picture. I've show the selection at left with the QUICK MASK mode on so you can see where I've selected better. For a even better effect fade the selection from the front (advance work!). Hit ALT+CNTRL+D to pick the selection feather and put in 1 or 2 pixels.

With the FIELD/TREE layer selected go to filters and pick Guassian Blur. I used about 1 pixel, but do it to your taste. Try to not go too crazy with this or it will look really fake. It is like a seasoning!

Okay. Turn on all the layers and you should have a happy three-legged dog taking his two-legged owner for a walk in a nice meadow.

Some things we used to make this image are:

1) sectioning selected layers for more control of image placement

2) direct dragging of multiple layers from one image window to another.

3) CNTRL+SHFT+J to cut a selection and automatically place it in a new layer. And CNTRL+J to copy a selection into a new layer above.

4) adding forground bits to 'blend' your cut-outs into the background

5) faking "depth of field" to add depth to images, and basic composition control.

Perspective

2009-02-14T12:41:00.001-08:00

I'd like to talk about the importance of perspective - often the most forgotten ingredient in PSC
entries (with reflection and shadow realism a close second/third).

Have you ever looked at an entry and thought "something looks wrong here, but I can't quite put
my finger on it"? Well, 9 times out of 10, it's probably a perspective problem.

Sometimes you can cheat or "force the perspective" without it being an obvious problem, just as you
can cheat the realism of shadows/reflections to some degree. A recent contest example is illustrated by
this entry of Patre's, which did quite well:

Being a secure and well-adjusted newbie, Patre welcomed my comment and asked for clarification of this issue,
so here we are. The perspective problem here is caused by a conflict between the camera point-of-view (POV) in
the original background image versus the new source (foreground). One POV is higher than the other. The tell-tale
signs are the areas I've highlighted below plus what can be seen of the horse itself:

Note how in the foreground, the side rails on either side of the track (flashing blue) are vertically close together -
indicating that they are approaching alignment with the horizon. Also note that we can see little of the top of the
horse's body (we are not looking DOWN onto the horse at all) - indicating that the horizon runs through it somewhere.
These, and similar key pointers in the background image, allow us to project an imaginary horizon-line for each POV:

The mis-match between the 2 camera POV's (and their horizon-lines) is what causes the final image to look odd.
To remedy this, we can move the original background image down so that its horizon approaches the same level as
the new foreground image:

So... when choosing a compatible source image to combine with another, ask yourself "Does the camera have a similar
enough point-of-view in each image?"... and discover the joy of good perspective.

Depth of Field

2009-02-14T12:38:00.001-08:00

Well, i knew the day would come when my photoshop skills would advance so much that somebody
would accuse me of cheating! The picture in question is this:

just to cover certain questions about my post, i have made a step-by-step guide as to how and why I did this.
The original entry took me nearly a whole day to complete, and as far as i've noticed, i can't see anything else
i could do to improve it. This step-by-step guide will cover just the basics of what i did as I have lost much of
the original material i used (mainly by flattening files and so on), and I only spent a short time covering the basics
- so for those of you who think the new attempt looks nothing like the original, then it won't because I haven't spent
any time perfecting it.

Before we begin, you will need a copy of this:

and this too:

(Jokes apart, the book is very good!)

First I created a background (anyone would have worked fine, but the stripes give the depth of field
more emphasis) and then blurred it using Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur

then I opened the original image:

For the effect i wanted to create, I needed to work on the original image before it was to be pasted into the
main file. I wanted the image to look printed, with bleeding lines (as if the head wasn't aligned properly) and
I wanted the colours to be slightly different, and a bit more plain.

Above, I used 'Select - Colour Range' and selected the red in the picture with a fuzziness of 157. I then
created a new layer, filling the selection with a lighter red. I did the same for the green and then changed
the opacity of both of them to blend it in.
I then flattened the image and altered the Brightness/Contrast.

I then Copied the flattened image layer (Background) and selected the mode to 'Soft Light'

I then created the 'print lines' by roatating the canvas 90'CCW then applyed 'Filter - Sketch - Halftone Pattern'.
The pattern was set to 'Line' and the size =2, Contrast=3
I then rotated the canvas back to normal (90'CW) - i had to rotate the canvas as applying this filter without doing
so would have given me lines in the other direction!

I then flattened the image and increased the canvas size to give me a white border.

I then dragged the final image onto the background i had created:

A bit on depth of field.......

When a lens focuses on a subject at a distance, all subjects at that distance are sharply focused. Subjects
that are not at the same distance are out of focus and theoretically are not sharp. However, since human eyes
cannot distinguish very small degree of unsharpness, some subjects that are in front of and behind the sharply
focused subjects can still appear sharp. The zone of acceptable sharpness is referred to as the depth of field.
Thus, increasing the depth of field increases the sharpness of an image. We can use smaller apertures for
increasing the depth of field.

the pic below is taken with a small aperture rating and has a greater depth of field:

and this one has a higher aperture rating, a smallere depth of field:

I wanted to create a picture that looked realistic, so I wanted to use a greater depth of field. When you look
at the final pic i created, the front (left) and the back (right) are out of focus. This is because the focal point is
towards the centre.

To help me with the perspective, I drew a grid on the background with lines. I then distorted the grid to follow
the line of a 'hanging' line.

the top of the grid will represent my imaginary hanging line

I then set about distorting the paper to make it look as if it was at an angle to the viewer. I used 'Edit - Transform - Distort'
and aligned it to the grid:

After having copied the paper image five times, I then went about distorting them all, then scaling them
smaller and smaller to give the 'distance' more feel.

Curling the paper.........

This one took me ages to get right, and many attempts. To give the paper it's 'curled' look, I used the 'Filter - Distort - Shear'.

I then did this to the rest:

The only other source pic i used was one of some pegs:

Here, I quickly cut them out, but in the original effort, I obviously spent more time on them.
Using 'Edit - Transform - Distort' again, I added them to the pic. Using the eraser tool, I shaped the pegs to
make them look as if the paper was through them.
I then scaled them down more progressivly each time so they would match the paper size. I then drew the
line in with the shapes tool - 'line'

A bit about shadows......

I obviously spent a lot of time on the original completing the shadows. Implementing shadows into the picture
will help enhance distance, depth of field and lighting.

Take a look at the first picture. It depicts two spheres sitting on, or floating above a green base. It's hard to tell
whether they are touching the base or if they are floating above it.
Now look at the second picture. Suddenly it has all become clear. The red sphere is the larger of the two, and is
resting at the back of the green base. The blue one is floating above the base, and is nearer. The only thing that is
different between the two is that the second picture has shadows, otherwise they are identical.
As you can see, shadows provide the viewer with a great deal of information about a scene. An object with a shadow
has more presence than one without. Shadows give depth to a scene and reinforce our perception of the location of lightsources.
Take a look at Quake. It's shadows add mood and atmosphere. Imagine how boring it would look with everything at the same brightness.

I imagined a light source from the angle below:

I then - quickly - added some shadows:

Now for the Depth of field conversion!
I flattened the image and chose the blur tool. With reference to the depth of field, I chose a focal point
(just off centre, to the left)
and then blurred the far left hand side. I then started from the centre, blurring progressively more the further
right I went, until the distance was not in focus.

Simple Wood in Photoshop CS

2009-02-14T12:25:00.001-08:00

It used to be a lot of work to make realistic-looking wood in Phototoshop,
then Photoshop CS came along with its extra fancy filters, especially the
one we're going to use today, the Fibers filter. Now it's as easy as one, two,
three. Just follow this simple tutorial.

As an example, I was asked if I could make a realistic-looking wooden worktop
for the following image.

Note that this is not a tutorial about cutting, pasting, etc. It's about creating simple wood,
so I won't go into much detail about the other stuff.

1.Defining the Colors

Firstly, we need to define the color of the wood and to do this we are going to use the Eye Dropper tool.
We want a light brown for the foreground and a dark brown for the background.

In order to make the wood match the original as much as possible, we are going to choose shades
from the wood in the source picture.

The red arrows below show where the Eye Dropper tool can choose the colors from. Note that
when you click on the Set Foreground Color or Set Background Color boxes (to the left of
the red arrows in the diagram below), the Eye Dropper tool will automatically appear. There is
no need to choose it from the toolbar.

2.Create a New Layer

Now that we have defined our colors, create a new layer, select all, and fill with the new foreground color.

3.Time to Make the Wood

One thing you should know about the filter we are about to use is that it creates vertical grain lines,
and in this particular case, we really want horizontal lines, so first rotate the canvas 90 degrees
(Image>Rotate Canvas> 90 degrees CW). Now choose Filter>Render>Fibers.

You will see what looks like wood, though we need to make a few adjustments. As our source picture
has quite a close grain, with fairly straight lines, we need to adjust the options accordingly, so slide
Variance down to 1.0 and Strength up to 64.0, then click OK. We should end up with something like
this.

Now rotate the canvas back 90 CCW.

4. Getting the Perspective Right

All we need to do now is get the perspective right on the wood, so that it doesn't look like it's
sitting at the wrong angle. To do this, choose Edit>Transform>Distort.
Now grab each of the four corners and place them as follows.

Once we are happy with the basic shape, we need to click on the tick in the top right hand corner.

5.Finishing Off

Now we just need to trim the edges of the worktop, and cut out the sink to place on top. Take
your time on the cutting out and you should end up with something like this.

If you find that the colors don't quite match up, then instead of starting again, try fine tuning with either Image>Adjust>Brightness/Contrast or Image>Adjust>Hue/Saturation.

The Peel Effect

2009-02-14T12:22:00.001-08:00

The Peel Effect is a (cliché) way to turn an object in a spectacular eye caching image.
You peel of the skin of an object, so the inside will be visible,

I'm going to peel a bulb:

1. So make sure you got an image of the inside:

2. Cause the "peel" hangs down by gravity, stretch it a lil'

3. Duplicate the layer where the bulb is in.

4. Make the bulb that's now on the bottom of the other bulb darker, or if you're not peeling a bulb make sure the colour would look like the inside of the peel, by using colour adjustments and levels.

5. Erase anyway you like to make the shape of the peel, do both layers.

6. Make some minor adjustments like in this case putting the logo back on

7. Now its time to make the inside. I cute out the sours epic and pasted it between the upper bulb layer and the bottom bulb layer.

8. Do not forget to make shadows and a background, this makes it looks much better.

Making Snow

2009-02-14T12:18:00.001-08:00

Making snow is not all that hard, but it does consume some time. We will start with an earlier
picture that is appropriate and start with the basics and proceed from there. First thing I do with
any chop is to up the resolution from the crappy 72 dpi to 300. This allows me cleaner work overall.
This also adds some steps that may or may not be needed if you don't do this. After upping the
resolution, make sure your colors are set to black & white. Then create a new layer, in my case
will be named "falling snow" Then, because of my upped dpi I draw a small rectangular box and
fill it with clouds.

Here is the reason I use a small box, we do not want too much snow so the part I think
will work is here.

Now to the snow. Use Filters>Pixelate>Mezzotint>Coarse Dots. (The falling snow we see is close to our viewpoint)
and execute.

Now I expand the mezzotinted box across my picture and go to Select>Color Range and select
the black areas and delete. (Do not select the white area unless you want to do a Mount St. Helens picture)
My fuzziness is around 68, but then, that's just standard for me.

Sometimes, you have areas of too much snow. This is too much snow. Reduce it as you see fit.

Now, soften the effect with Filters>Blur>Motion Blur and these are the settings I have used
in this demonstration. They seem to work pretty well.

If you want to depict snow that has just started within the last few seconds this is as far as
you need go, but let's have a little on the ground to add that "chill factor" for the poor old fellow.

Start another layer for ground snow.

Fill pretty much the entire layer with clouds this time and adjust the brightness and contrast
to get a harsher, more defined look like so.

This time, when you go to Mezzotint, use fine dots and these snow flakes will be further away.

WOW!! Blizzard time! This is what you should get when you select and delete the black areas.

We need this much because we have to develop perspective someway since this snow is
lying on the ground, so Edit>Free transform the ground snow layer and squish (don't you
love these technical terms I use?) it down until it barely covers the area needed to be covered.
Then, duplicate it a time or two, you will need them.

Erase what you do not need and you might use the rubber stamp to simulate accumulations
in areas it would pile up in.

Snow also on table top and chair seat.

And copied onto old street guy.

Now, using the eraser, rubber stamp and, most importantly; your EYE, do the final touch up
THEN work with the opacity levels on your different snow levels to bring them to pleasing levels
and there you have it, an old fellow facing another tough night.

That is how I have been making snow, I hope this helps.

Clipping Mask

2009-02-14T12:11:00.001-08:00

There is one funky feature of Photoshop that many people seem either terrified of, indifferent to,
or possibly in ignorance of. I speak, of course, about the Dreaded Clipping Mask feature of Photoshop.

This tutorial will be a basic introduction to this great feature; a feature that will allow you to deal with your
"Boundary Issues".
So, to start with: A clipping mask is a great way (one example) to keep shadows where they belong.

There are a few ways to create a clipping mask layer, but the way I like doing it is to add a layer
ABOVE where you want the new layer to fall on.

So click on the layer you want your shadow stuff to appear on and then click the NEW LAYER
icon at the bottom of the layers pallette.
NOTE: the lower layer should be a cut out layer - not an image that covers the whole image frame.

That Italian table cloth behind the image is the way I've set up my transparency settings - never
liked GRAY too much. To make this TUT easier to view I'll add a blank white backgroud behind
(on a lower layer) my circle object.

There are a few ways to create a clipping mask layer, but the way I like doing it is to add a layer
ABOVE where you want the new layer to fall on.

So click on the layer you want your shadow stuff to appear on and then click the NEW LAYER
icon at the bottom of the layers pallette.

NOTE: the lower layer should be a cut out layer - not an image that covers the whole image frame.
The edges of this object will become the BOUNDARIES for the clipping mask.

So you've got an cut out image and now you have a new blank layer above it.

On the New Layer Above take a brush and paint fuzzy gray fill over part of the image. You'll notice
that it covers OUTSIDE the boundary of the lower layer shape.

Unless you are going for a "Sun Peeking From Behind Clouds" kinda thing, this just won't do.
Here is where the Amazing Clipping Mask comes into play.

Put your mouse cursor on the line dividing the two layers you just made (the lower layer with your
main image and the upper layer with the "gray fuzzy stuff" on it.) Your cursor turns into a Pointing
Finger Hand thang (A). Now hold down your ALT key (or MAC equivalent) and you'll see the cursor
turn into a funky overlapping circle thing with an arrow pointing out the side (B).

Right CLICK! (C) The upper layer jumps to the right with a nifty angled arrow pointing to the Object layer below.
Note: to CANCEL a Clipping Mask layer just re-click on the dividing line again and it will toggle back and forth.

In the our example image the gray fuzzy should ONLY be over the shape below now.

Where the lower layer image ISN'T the Gray Fuzzy ISN'T.

This keeps the upper layer ONLY in the place where the lower layer is.

Effectively, the gray fuzzy must stay within the boundary set by the shape of the oject below!

To make this particular shadow more realistic I've set the OPACITY of the Clipping Layer
(the upper layer) to 63%, and changed the Blending Mode to MULTIPLY.

It is always important to play with the ol' OPACITY and BLENDING MODES as they can
greatly affect the end visual impression of your overlapping layers.

To make something approaching a finished project for this tutorial, I added a face, as well
as a WHITE FUZZY (for forhead glare) to the image.

Notice that they are all clipping layers, and that the bottom of the Clipping Stack is the
layer that sets the BOUNDARY for the clipping layers above. Try clipping and unclippng
the layers (using that funky overlapping circle thing with an arrow pointing out the side) to see the difference in the end result.

Object Transformation

2009-02-14T11:46:00.001-08:00

First, it's important to visualize enough well if there's enough elements in the original
picture that can be used to make the transformation. Secondly, it can be helpful to find
some good pictures as references to make the new object. For this one, I used no reference.

Here's the original picture.

I started with a light rotation of the whole picture, and I started with the horns by selecting
& copy/paste the left leg of the turtle. I made a polar coordinates distort to it, rectangular
to polar. I moved it and rotated it to put it at the right place, and adjuting the shape with a l
ayer mask. Layer masks are important to give the flexibility for taking off and putting back
later some details. The right horn is a duplicate of the left one... flip & rotate...

I made a copy/paste of the left arm & shadow and moved it at the right place to
built the left side (bottom) of the face.

Now, with the layer mask, I kept only the details I needed. Always using the brush
tool on a layer mask, adjusting constantly the size, hardness & opacity, depending
of the detail to do. Taking off & putting back details by switching foreground & background
colors (for layer mask: black & white) by pressing "x" on the keyboard.

I started to make the shape of the right side (top) of his face only by stamping the
background over some parts of the turtle on another layer. The chin was a copy/paste
of the head of the turtle, I made a shear distort & free transform. After, always the same
thing... moving, rotating, taking off some parts using the layer mask...

Copy/paste of one part of the shadow... moving & rotating, layer mask...

Now I used the left arm for the left ear... copy/paste, free transform, layer mask...

I made the details of the ear with the stamp tool & brush tool on different layers.
Can use different blending modes on layers with the brush tool for shadows & highlights.
I was gradually cleaning & adjusting some details with the same tools.

I made the new shapes of the shadow using the pen tool, after I used the stamp
tool to clone some parts of the original shadow, adjusting & cleaning with the brush tool,
and adding a gaussian blur.

Copy/paste a detail & moved it up... this detail will be part of the devil's mouth.

With the stamp tool, I took off all the details that I didn't want, preparing the face
of the devil.

Copy/paste & moved some details & highlight of the turtle for the left eye & the
nose.

After that, I draw some details with the brush tool & stamp tool, adjusting the
size, hardness & opacity of those tools as usual.

I copy/paste the left eye to make the right eye, move-flip-rotate-free transform
& layer mask to keep only a part of it.

Here, I added some red reflexion to the right eye & cheek.

I added some small details again, and added a curves adjustment layer for a better
contrast.

Finally, I was close to forget the right ear... copy/paste of the left one, flip-rotate.

The Liquify Filter

2009-02-14T11:34:00.001-08:00

This is a tutorial to show you how to transform animals into other animals by using the liquify filter and for those of you who want and actual example, how I made this picture:

first things first. get the picture of the animal you wish to transform (i'll call this animal1 for clarity). heres mine

now find a picture of the animal (i'll call animal2) you want to transform animal1 into. there are a few things you should follow when doing this as it makes this process a lot easier.

animal2 should be BIGGER than animal1; hence i used a rhino for 2 and a deer for 1.
to make this easier on you find a picture of animal2 that is in the same position as animal1 (as near as you can get it)
the pictures should be roughly the same resolution (doesn't matter so much if you can't get a pic like this but it helps)
thats all i can think of at this moment....

this is what i found on google images

ok now import both animal pictures into photoshop like so

easy enough? ok. now i'm going to select the rhino and hit edit>transform>flip horizontal so its facing the same way. reduce the opacity of the rhino to around 50% or so and position the rhino's body "in the middle" of the deer's body like this

now click the eye next to the rhino's layer to make it dissapear. we'll be working on the body first so using the polygonal lasoo tool (keep hitting L until you find it) draw a ring around the deer's body (i used the pen tool but i dont fancy explaining it). now with that ring and the deer's layer selected, hit ctrl+j to make a new layer from the selection, or you can go to layer>new>layer via copy. now select the new layer and rename it to body. rearange the layers so animal1 is on the bottom, then the rhino layer, then the body layer is on top. select the move tool (hotkey V) and resize the body until it is roughly the same size as the rhinos body.

then go to filter>liquify or press shift+ctrl+x. select show backdrop you can choose which layer to use as the backdrop. for this choose layer 2 or the layer which has animal2 on it and change it to being infront and opacity around 55.

this is a list of tools built in the the liquify filter and basicly what they do. i'll try to be as accurate as possible.

the liquify filter tools

warp tool (w) or the forward warp tool (w) depends on the version of photoshop

much like the smudge tool, although tends not to lose sharpness or details. all together more accurate.

turbulence tool (a)

acts a bit like a brush jitter. great for distortion but thats about it. as far as im concerned not so usefull.

twirl clockwise tool (r)

acts like the distort>twirl filter only in brush form if that makes sense. if it doesn't dont worry it's pretty self explanitry.

twirl counter clockwise tool (l)

i would hope this is self explanitry

pucker tool (p)

works as a brush retracting pixels from the edge (i think i can say that) the basic effect of which it that you can shrink areas.

bloat tool (b)

works the opposite effect of the pucker tool and enlarges area. its works partly like the distort>spherise filter (i think thats what it's called, its too late at night)

shift pixels tool (s)

works like the warp tool apart from it tends to shift whole blocks of pixels in a certain way instead of the center. takes practise and patience of which i have neither.

reflection tool (m)

the only use i found for this is creating refraction in glass, but it only works in somesituations and its a b*tch to get right ('scuse my french)

reconstruct tool (e)

surprisingly usefull. reconstructs parts which you have just 'liquified'. main uses are getting back wrongfully changed parts while not reconstructing the WHOLE image. you'll know what i mean when you use it.

masks- freeze tool (f)

it stops the tools having any effect on cerain areas of the picture- define these areas with this brush (represented by red)

masks- thaw tool (t)

it removes parts of the 'masking' you just put on with the freeze tool

on with the show. get a large brush (i used size 312 pressure 100 and density 27) and use the forward warp tool (w) to fit the deer's body to the exact shape of the rhino's body. i came out with this

try not to stretch the fur too much other wise it will look strange (the one above isn't the best example but this is just a guideline). i reccomend using short strokes with the large brush stated above. roughly speaking, the large the brush, the more natural it looks but the less precise.

now for the legs. cut them out from the deer's layer and copy each one into a new layer and name the layers accordingly. using the first leg (i chose the one on the very left) rotate and scale to roughly fit the rhino's leg, then go into liquify once again. choose a brush about 150% bigger than the width of the rhinos leg, choose the bloat tool (b) then click on the bottom of the leg and just drag the mouse upwards, because it tends to thicken the leg so the aproximate size of the rhino. then choose the forward warp tool again and matches the sizes of the leg exactly. it should look like this when your done

repeat the process for the remaining legs. we will get onto detail in the legs later. on the final thing my legs looked like this

now the head bit is probably the hardest part. using the polygonal lasoo tool copy the head of the rhino into a new layer. select the healing brush tool (j) and remove the rhino's horn (alt-click to define source of skin close to the part of the horn that you are dealing with. if you do not know how to use the tool i suggest tht you follow another tutorial for it as i'm not going to explain it here). anyways, my rhino head now looks like this (just rough version):

also, try shaping the mouth of the rhino to the rough shape of the deer <took me a while

to colour in the head, make only the new head layer and the deer layer visible, and try to copy the colour tones over by:

making a new layer and tranform it into a clipping mask for the head layer
eyedropping the colour of fur needed off the deer head
selecting a fairly soft brush and any size of brush. select the mode of the brush to colour
paint away
add extra detail as nessessary eg. white spots from deer coat.

mine now looks like this

oh ps: i shaped the head more to look like the deer. save your work before the next part

anyway on with the tut. merge the colour clipping mask to the head layer and duplicate the head layer. merge one head onto the body layer. try to blend the merged head to the body you just merged it to. i just figured out quite a neat trick. where you want to join the features then choose smudge and click and wiggle the mouse over the part. however, blending it loses the head's detail hence why we copied the head layer. make that layer visible and place it above the body layer. if it still looks not joined then only smdge it very slightly right of the head. et voila.

next steps to do

fix background
add atlers
adjust antlers lighting
adjust deer lighting
add detail.

fixing background

this is quite hard to get right thank god its only a smal section to do

whip out your healing tool and cover up the deer with bits of tree? i don't know what ever fits. you could ship it into a new background and it would be a lot easier. it's your desicion.

add antlers

i managed to find a decent source picture for this:

antlers

so all i did was cut it out paste them onto separate layers. for the lighting conditions you notice that we have some highlights that we dont want hence make sure you have no other layers visible, and go to select>colour range and eye drop the brightest highlight you can find then adjust the fuziness untill all the unwanted highlights are selected. then reduce the brightness of them untill they appear grey. job done. if you want you can colour them in with the same colour of the rest of the antlers for realism but there is no need.

lighting

the best advice i can give you is to look at the deer, look at the background, look at where the sun is coming into the picture from etc. I made a new layer on top and added highlights and shadows. i would refrain from using the burn and dodge tools.

details

add any amount of detail you wish. theres a million different things you can add in the way of detail. pick them up for yourself from the original deer pic. i fiddled around with the details, lighting etc. and got this:

here is a list of things i thought of that you can add

fur 'stumps'
extra fur details
extra lighting reflections
lens burring
dusty streams of light
erm... thats about all i can think of

and were done here. if there was anything you didn't understand here just PM me or something. appologies if you didnt understand some steps i tried to explain it well.

liquifying is mainly about experimenting. practice it and you will be able to use it effectively.

Displacement Water

2009-02-12T07:05:00.000-08:00

Creating a realistic water surface in Photoshop is quite a challenge because it is the distorted reflection of the surroundings that makes the water look liquid. The displace filter is an excellent tool for making this distortion.

The displace filter "shifts pixels" in an image according to the brightness values of a displacement map. You can use any .psd file as a displacement map (if saved with "Maximize compatibility"). Displace uses the first and the second channels of this .psd file for horizontal and vertical displacement respectively. Each channel is a grayscale image. Medium gray (brightness 128) does nothing. Darker values will shift an image in the positive direction (in Adobe coordinates). Brighter values cause a shift in the negative direction. The amount of displacement can be controlled separately. At a scale value of 100, the displacement measured in pixels is equal to 128 minus the brightness of the displacement map. For example, a white pixel will shift an image 128 - 255 = -127 pixels at the corresponding pixel at that setting.

The following tutorial shows how to create a relatively simple displacement map and how to create a water surface with it. This method does not adjust for wave height and distances, but it produces good results if the water is calm and if the surface is not intersected by other elements.

Part one: creating a displacement map

We start with making an image in which the brightness represents the height of the surface. Bright is high, dark is low. The dimensions of this image control the size and shape of the waves. Start with a larger image to create smaller waves.

Create a new file in RGB mode of 1000 pixels wide by 2000 pixels high.
Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise... Enter these settings:
Amount: 400%
Distribution: Gaussian
Monochromatic

Click OK.
Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur... Choose a radius of 2,0 pixels and click OK.
- We will use the result of the previous steps as a bump map to create a representation of the tilt of the surface. We will do this separately in channel 1 and channel 2. You can ignore channel 3. It does not affect the displace filter.
Select channel 1 in the channels palette.
Go to Filter > Stylize > Emboss... Enter these settings:
Angle: 180°
Height: 1 pixels
Amount: 500 %
Click OK
Select channel 2.
Apply the Emboss Filter again, but this time use an angle of 90° instead of 180°.

Now we are going to change the perspective. Stretching the base lowers the horizon. We would have to drag the corners to infinity to extend the water surface all the way to the horizon. We will not do that. Stretching to anything above about 3000% is enough. The perspective stretch only works between 0 and 700%, so we will stretch to 600% twice. This equals 3600%.

Unlock the background layer.
Zoom out and go to Edit > Transform > Perspective.
Drag one of the bottom corners to the side, to a width of 600% and hit Enter.
Select the canvas with Ctrl+A / Command+A.
Press Ctrl+Shift+T / Command+Shift+T to transform again.
Crop away the area outside the canvas with Ctrl+A / Command+A and Image > Crop.
Reduce the height of the image to make it square. In this case 1000 by 1000 pixels.

In reality, waves cause rotations in a reflection instead of translations. As a result, the horizontal distortion decreases towards the horizon. The vertical distortion does not. However, we have to adjust channel 2 as well, because the perspective change has caused aliasing near the horizon. We will use motion blur later to compensate for this.

First adjust channel-1:

Select channel 1.
Press Q to switch to Quick Mask Mode.
Draw a white to black linear gradient from the top down across the image to create a gradient mask.
Press Q to go back to Standard Mode. Now we have a gradient selection.
Fill with medium gray (brightness 128).

Adjust channel 2 in a similar way:

Select channel 2.
Go to Quick Mask Mode.
Draw a gradient to select the narrow part near the horizon where the waves are too large.
Press Q to turn the mask into a selection.
Fill with medium gray.

This is what the finished displacement map should look like with the blue channel hidden. Note that in the green channel, the bright areas will shift a reflection upwards, which represents a tilt towards you. The dark areas produce a tilt away from you. This may be a little confusing because it's probably the opposite of how your brain interprets the brightness variations.

Save as .psd with "Maximize Compatibility".

You may have to change the preference at Edit > Preferences > File Handling > Maximize PSD File Compatibility to be able to save with Maximum Compatibility.

Part two: creating a water surface

We will create a lake in this valley.

First, we have to make a "flat" reflection which we will distort later with the displace filter. In this example, we will treat the landscape as a single background object. This only works if the background is very distant.

Determine where the horizon should be. Select everything above this line and copy it to a new layer. This will be the reflection layer.
Extend the canvas downwards to make room for the reflection.
Flip vertical and move the layer down to mirror it with the background.

Near the horizon, almost 100% of the light is reflected of a water surface. At higher angles, the reflection component becomes smaller so you can see the color of the water itself. The color will be dark blue or turquoise if the water is clear. Of course, you can make any liquid you want by using another color.

Create a new layer below the reflection layer and link it to the reflection layer.
Fill the area behind the reflection with the desired color. (You can adjust it later with Hue/Saturation.)
Add a layer mask to the reflection layer. Draw a white to black gradient down from the horizon to show the lower part of the color layer.

Now we can add some wind. Before applying the displacement map, we will use motion blur to simulate the effect of the waves in the distance. The blur distance depends on the size of the image and the wind effect you want to create.

Select the reflection layer and Ctrl+click / Command+click the layer mask to make a gradient selection.
Lock the transparent pixels by clicking the little checkerboard icon in the layers palette.
Go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur... Use an angle of 90°. Set the distance value and click OK.
Repeat the motion blur with Ctrl+F / Command+F.
Unlock the transparent pixels and deselect.

Now we are ready to apply the displacement map. To prevent aliasing in high contrast edges, we will scale the layer up first. You can skip the scaling steps or use smaller values if you are going to scale down the final image anyway.

The displacement map will stretch or shrink to fit a selection. To get the right perspective, the horizon of the displacement map should approximately coincide with the horizon of the scene. Here, we can just select the content of the reflection layer to get the right alignment.
Only a little displacement is enough to make the water look liquid. The right amount of displacement depends on the size of the image and height of the waves.

Use Transform to scale the reflection layer to 400% in both directions.
Ctrl-click / Command-click on the reflection layer thumbnail to make the selection.
Go to Filter > Distort > Displace... Enter the amount of displacement. The horizontal scale value should be about 50% of the vertical scale. Also select "Stretch To Fit" and "Repeat Edge Pixels". Click OK.
Find the displacement map on your computer and click "open" to apply it.
Deselect and use Transform to scale back to 25%.

Now it really looks like water. Notice that the layer mask is also distorted because it is linked to the layer. This causes the reflectivity to change with the angle of the surface.

We will make some final adjustments to complete the image.

Select the layer mask, go to Levels and change the white output level to about 240 to make the surface slightly transparent near the horizon. If needed, use the other sliders to further adjust the reflectivity.
Finally, cut away the edges of the image if the repeated edge pixels are noticeable.

Shadows

2009-02-12T06:55:00.000-08:00

Theoretical Explanation:

As this the beginning of shadow tutorials, I will strictly be using a 3D software, as it produces perfect shadows that will serve as perfect examples. I will display various light settings and though I won't explain how they work, I will analyze them.

Shadow can be defined by the absence of light caused by the interposition of an object between the source of light and the surface that receives the light. Shadow must not be perceived as a projected darkness but as the absence of light. Objects do not cast shadows but their opacity prevents light from being diffused. We often think of shadows as a dark counterpart of an object which is only a mind created illusion. In reality shadows are not part of a dualistic system of light/darkness but only the absence of light. Although this definition might not change the way you graphically perceive shadows, it is important for the theorical aspect we're dealing with here.

Therefore shadows can be also seen these ways:

Their shape and contours are defined both by the way the object retains light (its opacity, its specularity, its own contours, its texture and bumps) and by the way light bounces off that object (defined by both the object's charcteristics and by the light's nature). For instance, in this first 3D render of a sphere the shadow is defined both by the sphere's shape and by the light source placement (height, angle, diffusion cone width and length, intensity, falloff). In this example, that can remind us of the sun on a planet, it is obvious that the shadowed part of the scene is just the unlit part of that scene.

Why it is important:

Most artists, from painters to photographers, let their brain see shadows in a more complicated way than it really is.

Now as a an exercise you could consider stopping painting shadows with brushes, and start creating shadows by erasing light from a dedicated layer that contains it. Even though it might prove to be a real pain in the back for you retouchers, it will surely improve both the way you perceive shadows and therefore the quality in the long term.

I'm not going to explain and depict every possible type of shadow as it would be pretty useless for the average photo retoucher; instead I will explain a few main types and illustrate them with 3D renders to provide you with a visual reference.

Let's as a first step analyze this random render that provides us with a good illustration of shadows complexity. Although there are only two objects, I can count 11 different shadows. Let's see them:

1. Inner shadow produced by the curvature of the box's edges.
2. Large soft shadow produced by the whole object.
3. Inner shadow induced by the unperfect junction of the box's parts.
4. Inner shade produced by the outside box and drawer like part's edges.
5. Inner shade produced only by the outside box which is therefore lighter than number #4.
6. Shade produced by the central position of the light source above the box, the edge is therefore shaded on sides just because it receives less light than the center.
7. Inner shadow because light doesn't penetrate that tight interstice.
8. Soft outside shadow produced under the box's edges fillet.
9. Same as number #3, lighter as it receives more light.
10. Large soft shade on the box's edge induced by its placement relatively to the light source.
11. Shadow produced by the match's head. Notice that this shadow is tinted by the red glow that is itself produced by the actually very low specularity and reflection rate of the red part.

That scene is rendered with global illumination which means the light comes evenly from a surrounding sphere, kind of like a sky with no visible sun.

Here is an exercise for you to work on. Simply try to recreate the shadows you see in this 3D render accurately in Photoshop; we provide you with a shadowless render to work on.

Shadowed render:
Shadowless render:

Texturing

2009-02-12T03:25:00.000-08:00

This tutorial demonstrates an effect that gets so photo-realistic it led to some cheating controversies in the past. Aside from the interest of the created effect it also gives key layer technique information.

The only material needed is these two photos, the crumpled paper and what we want printed on it.

Let's start by opening the two photos and moving the grass photo above the paper's layer; you can turn the grass layer into multiply mode and transform it to get the correct placement.

In this case I chose to avoid the darkest tree parts as they don't produce a great effect on the paper.

Now you need to mask the paper in order to separate it from its background using the selection tool you prefer. I personally painted a mask in order to respect the uneven contour of the paper. To do so, apply a layer mask by clicking the adequate button in the layers palette, then choose a brush, black as color, and paint the paper. You can turn the upper layer's opacity down to see what you do better.

Once finished, press CTRL+I so you invert the layer mask.

The selection's edges have very little chance of being perfect already so I used the smudge tool with a large soft brush to push or draw the layer mask so it fits the paper edges perfectly.

Now time for using the layer blending modes. -Take the masked paper layer, duplicate it (ctrl+j), turn it into multiply mode with a 50% opacity. -Take the masked grass texture layer, put it into soft light mode, duplicate it again and turn the last duplicate into multiply mode with a 50% opacity.

You can now flatten all the texture layers to make a single object above the original background. It will make the further color and luminosity tweaking easier. To do so, hide the background, create a new empty layer on top and press ctrl+alt+shift+E to merge visible parts onto it. What I did here is that I added a desaturated copy of the paper on top of the mix, switched it soft light mode and played with the levels to add some shades to the whole mix. Turn that layer opacity to 30%, duplicate it and turn the copy into screen mode with a 50% opacity.

Repeat the previous step: merge the visible paper layers into a single layer, then erase the unused layers so you only have the background and the altered paper layer left. Do some color and luminosity tweaking on the background layer so its properties match (more or less) the ones of the paper. You will notice now again that the selection was far from being perfect as the enhanced contrast now displays many imperfections : correct them by using the smudge tool like you did to correct the first selection.

Now your selection and its edges are neat, they are both sharp and follow the paper's edges original variations in sharpness and blurryness. We can now flatten everything again to leave only the background, and the textured paper in order to proceed to the final tweakings, corrections and enhancements. In this case I reduced the contrast produced by the various layer blending mode operations and added a little blur to even the too sharp parts.