Highlighted Chrome Style for Text: Photoshop Tutorial
Sep 13, 2007 by Patrick Winfield | Design, TutorialText styles are always a great way to get away from the same solid color on a background and add some flair to the type.
Text style is used to further express the mode of a piece. Chrome could be considered mechanical or cool. This technique can be applied to text, an object or shape to add a cool chrome effect.
Step 1. On a new document created a letter in white on a darker background with a large point size. I am using 287 points and the font is Myriad Pro.
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Step 2. Go to Layer/Rasterize/Type.
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Step 3. Hold down Control and click on the Text Layer. This will select the outline shape of the letter.
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Step 4. Go to the Channels Palette and create a new channel and fill it with White. Now De-select the layer and go to Filter/Blur/Guassian Blur with a Radius of 8.
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Step 5. Repeat the Filter but this time use a setting of 4 for the radius.
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Step 6. Click on the Type layer and go to Filter/Render/Lighting Effects. Use similar settings to the example shown. Be sure to use ‘Alpha 1′ for the Texture Channel.
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Step 7. Go to Image/Adjust/Curves and enter settings close to the one shown or whatever you feel looks best.
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Step 8. With the Chrome in place it is time to add some highlight by going to Filter/Render/Lighting Effects and using a Directional Light. Use the settings in the example.
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Step 9. Just re-size the letter down and add a subtle Drop Shadow and your done!
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Photoshop Shortcuts: Non-Destructive Dodging And Burning
Sep 6, 2007 by Patrick Winfield | Design, Tutorial
Nondestructively adjusting the exposure in certain areas of your image can be a very beneficial technique to use.
You create a 50% gray layer with a blending mode like Soft Light. Then with the Brush tool on a lower Opacity, paint in the Burns and Dodge with Grays and Blacks.
Step 1. Create a new layer on your document and go to Edit/Fill. Use a setting of %50 Gray.
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Step 2. Set the Layer Mode to Soft Light.
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Step 3. Select a large Brush and lower the Opacity to about %20. With Black selected as your Foreground color begin to paint in your Burning, the areas you would like darker.
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Step 4. Select White as your Foreground color and paint in the area you would like Dodged in your image, this will lighten up the areas.
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Step 5. To return certain areas back to the original exposure select the same %50 gray and paint.
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You can now easily hide the layer or delete it entirely without any damage to your original image.
Looking for that 15 minutes of fame? Well this tutorial won’t show you that, but it will give you a quick way to style your photos into a piece of Pop art.
1. Convert your photo to black and white or monochrome if it is not already. An easy way to do this is by opening the Hue and Saturation palette and sliding the saturation all the way to the left. Rename the layer ‘main photo’.
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2. Create a New Adjustment Layer and make it for Threshold. Use the options box to manipulate the image to how you like it, but try and leave some detail.
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3. Set the Opacity of the Threshold Layer to %50 and duplicate the main photo layer. Select the Burn Tool brush and set it to Midtones. Paint over ares that may need more detail, maybe the hair or face. Set the Threshold Layer’s Opacity back to %100.
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4. Select the Threshold layer and using the Magic Wand Tool click on the black of the image. Go to Select/Inverse. With the selection in place create a new blank layer and using the color of your choice fill in the selection.
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5. Make sure that the default Black White colors are on in the Tool Bar Palette. With this new color fill layer selected go to Filter/Sketch/Halftone Pattern and click OK on the defaults. Now go to Edit/Fade Halftone Pattern, select Color Burn and lower the opacity slightly.
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6. With the Threshold Layer selected create the background color by either selecting with the Magic Lasso Tool or using the Magic Wand Tool and clicking on the black part and then going to Select/Similar. Now go to Select/Inverse and fill in the color you want with the Paint Bucket or Shape Tool.
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You can also flatten all the layers and then go back to step 5 and apply the Halftone Pattern again and use different options for the Fade settings to further push the effect.
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A great way to convert photographs into colorful variations is to use the color balance adjustment to tone the shadows and highlights of your image into two different colors.
The Tone Effect technique can give your images a Pop art look or an aged mono/duo toned looked. Great way to further stylize a photograph and create something new and add some creative flair.
Step 1. Open your photo and adjust the Levels and or Curves. Make the Shadows the darkest areas and the highlights the whitest.
Step 2. Open your photo and convert it into a grayscale or black and white image. Go to Image/Adjustment/Hue Saturation and slide the saturation slider all the way down to the left. Or you can go to Image/Mode/Grayscale then you will have to convert it back into RGB, it will retain the new color mode of the grayscale though but it can now be colorized.
Step 3. Apply an Adjustment Layer of Color Balance to this layer. Go to Layer/New Adjustment Layer/Color Balance.
Step 4. Select the Shadows option in the Tone Balance part and slide the color sliders to the color you want to fill for the shadows. Do the same for the Highlights.
Step 5. Make a final adjustment to the Curves and also give it some more contrast if you feel it could use the extra pop.
Step 6. A trick I use to create some additional graphical quality to the photo is using the Threshold adjustment. Go to Image/Adjustment/Threshold and apply something that still retains some of the detail. Hit OK and then go to Edit/Fade Threshold and change the Mode option from Normal to something like Soft Light or Overlay and lower the opacity down to around 20-40% so that the effect is subtle.
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Do you want to sharpen your creative picture taking instincts? Do you want to combine new ideas with your current projects and techniques? These techniques will be better executed with digital cameras and meant as some direction or guidelines to taking ‘better‘ pictures. You are your cameras best viewfinder!
Why digital as opposed to film you say? You don’t have to buy tons of film if you are learning new ideas and trying different things and also you see the results right away.
That being said some of these photos were taken with Polaroid film. Polaroid has such an expressiveness to the colors and creates unique one of a kind images every time. The film is expensive but worth it. Once you get some basics down, experiment with film.
1. Perspective- Ansel Adams once said, “A good photo is knowing where to stand.” Explore your surroundings and take multiple shots from various angles. Look for vantage points that capitalize on the best available light, ones that have the least. Shoot from far away, get close, even closer, lie on the ground, use a ladder. Hold the camera above your head, tilt it at crazy angles. Stand right next to your subject, move with it or even walk around it. The main idea is to investigate normal and radical perspectives.
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2. Unequal Space- Vary the amount of distant between your main subject and the pictures edge. This makes for a more attractive composition and flow for the viewers eye to move around.
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3. Framing- Try to use various elements to form a visual ‘frame‘ around another element. This helps to direct the viewers eye and lead to the more important elements. Here are some examples from the Natural Framing Flickr pool.
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4. Horizon Line- Place the positioning of the horizon line above or below the center of your subjects.
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5. Cropping- Dead center is usually not the most interesting shot. Cropping tightly, or aggressively, into the subject creates dynamic visual space between the subject and the edges as well as dramatic imagery.
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6. Intentional Empty Space- Just like Unequal Space but more dramatic. Sometimes less is best.
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7. Shape- Simple geometric shapes are familiar and the basics of every form. Simple shapes can create order and sense within an image. Look out for interesting shapes and patterns in everyday objects.
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8. Lines and Curves- A painting professor I once had said that every curve was made up of tiny straight lines, this stayed with me. A curve is both relative to and different from a line. Find something you see everyday and breakdown your composition into lines, curves and shapes.
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9. Visual Texture- This can be made up of anything that densely fills the image. Look out for ‘Harmoniously Organized‘ texture like a close up of a man-made pattern. ‘Harmoniously Disorganized‘ such as a field of wheat or blades of grass on a lawn. ‘Chaotic‘ like a garbage dump.
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10. Depth- Draw the viewers eye in and back through an image. Consider various points of view that amplify depth like a pathway in the woods or lines on the road.
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11. Spin- Add some movement to an image by shaking the camera or moving around to add some motion blur to subjects that are standing still or stationary. Try this awesome spinning technique provided by Photojojo that makes for the coolest shots of kids having fun!
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12. Motion Shots- Shoot subjects that move to fast for the human eye to follow and see clearly. The technical aspects of shooting motion are easy: a fast shutter speed (or the action or sports setting) will freeze motion, a slow one will introduce motion blur. Also, check out this French photographers work with this idea…hang on!
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13. 360 Panoramic- Taking shots individually as you turn your body around. Later you can stitch these together in Photoshop. Feeling like pushing it further? Try creating your own planet aka “Polar Panoramas”- now that is cool! Click thumbnail to view full image.
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14. Composites- Using the same technique as the panoramic but with this just shoot freely without any order or grid. When you have your images downloaded to your computer later put them all into one Photoshop document and compose the scene. Check out the Panography photo pool on Flickr for some creative inspirations. Click thumbnail to view full image.
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15. Beautiful Decay- Expand your definition of beautiful and look for worn down subjects either man-made or natural. Ugly can be beautiful.
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16. Clouds- Clouds have endless variations and possibilities. All you need to do is stop and take pictures of them and you will see the beauty. Point straight up and shoot!
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17. Shadows/Reflections- They can transform an ordinary object in something artful or abstract. Teach yourself to notice not just the subjects,but the shadows and reflections they cast.
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18. Light Painting- Using a longer exposure setting place your camera on a tripod and grab yourself a small pen light or flash light and ‘draw‘ with the light or shot your subject in the dark and use a ‘bulb‘ setting for a long exposure and use a flashlight to ‘paint‘ in the light. Another variation of this would be to hold your camera and move it around the light source or simply set your cameras self-timer mose and just before it clicks toss the $350 camera into the air, just be sure to catch it. Check out these creative light painting photographers and what they are doing with the technique. Here is the Camera Toss Flickr pool. here is their groups description:
This is a “technique” group, and the technique here is regarded by some as insanity. For we are the reckless folks on flickr that enjoy the abstract, chance, generative, physical photography that results from throwing our cameras into the air (most often at night in front of varied light sources).
It is about trading risk for reward in the pursuit of art. It is not about being a photographer, it is about enabling the photography that happens naturally when you let go of the process, give up control, and add a hell of alot more variables. It is about physics, gravity, angular momentum, acceleration, direction, chaos, and timing… most of which you have tenuous control of at best!
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19. Light Direction- By exploring various points to light a subject with artificial or natural light, you can get the best possible image. Bounce light off of the ceiling, point the light right at the subject or from the side. Create a silhouetted effect and point the light at the backdrop, called backlighting, or experiment with alternative light sources like candles.
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20. Night Shots- Working with relatively low lit situations can be tricky but also very rewarding. The semi-abstract look of night shots can be great at evoking mood and emotion. I took this shot at dusk with a toy Holga camera with a blue filter. Photojojo has some great tips for taking some “Sparkling Firework Photos”.
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21. Intentional Overexposure/Underexposure- Add some style and visual impact to your shot by either overexposing or underexposing the image. Use the cameras flash at close range or by pass the flash altogether.
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2 Photoshop Effects for your Photos: Flat Plastic and Sketchy
Jul 10, 2007 by Patrick Winfield | Design, TutorialPhotoshop has some great filters in its arsenal, but the trick is usually tweaking or working with them in such a way as to make it seem less like a canned filter that was just applied with the default settings.
Graphic interpretations of photographs can be a cool solution to a plain photograph that you want or need to spice up for presentation or inclusion into a larger graphic.
In this tutorial I will go over 2 effects that use a combination of a few filters to create a unique look.
I will use these 2 photos.
The vectorized looking, plastic feel
Step 1. Open your photograph and adjust the Curves and Contrast. Give the photo a good range of dark and whites. Make the shadows dark.
Step 2. Go to Filter/Blur/Smart Blur. Set the Radius and Threshold to %100 and the Quality High and the Mode Normal.
Step 3. Duplicate that layer and go to Image/Adjustments/Threshold. Set it so that the blacks in the image retain a bit of the detail, either keep most of black or most white- your choice. I used a number of 137.
Step 4. Set the Layer Mode to Overlay for that duplicate layer and lower the Opacity to about 25 or less.
Final: Make one last adjustment to the Curves and Contrast as well as the Color. You want to image to have a graphic feel so play with the various options and see what works for your specific photograph. I applied another Adjustment Layer for Threshold to both layers and made the Layer Mode Darken.
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The color ink, sketchy look
Step 1. Open your photograph and adjust the Curves and Contrast. Duplicate the layer.
Step 2. Make sure that your Color Palette in the Tools bar is set to the default Foreground/Background B&W colors.
Step 3. With the duplicate layer selected Go to Filter/Sketch/Photocopy. Us the highest Detail setting of 24 and the Darkness to a lower number of 10 or less.
Step 4. Go to Filter/Sharpen/Sharpen More. Apply this a few times.
Step 5. Set the Layer Mode of this layer to Overlay. Lower the Opacity slightly.
Step 6. Flatten the document go to Layer/Flatten Image. Make a duplicate of the background layer and apply a Guassian Blur with a radius of 1 or less. Set the Layer Mode of this layer to Linear Burn and lower the Opacity to less than %25.
Final: Flatten the document or apply an Adjustment Layer for Color Balance to the 2 layers. Adjust the Curves and Contrast one last time. Also you can start again with the steps all over again with this final image for an even more graphical stylization.
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Photoshop: Creatively Reinterpreting Light in Photographs
Jul 6, 2007 by Patrick Winfield | Design, TutorialOften with digital photographs taken without the use of additional light sources we get a flat light. This works fine most of the time, but sometimes we would like to dramatically change the focus or impact of an element in the image.
This technique can be useful for product photography, portraits, and nature shots.
This tutorial will require some understanding if Masks, Adjustment Layers, and Layer Blend Modes.
Step1 . Set up the document and duplicate the Background layer. On the copy layer make any adjustments to the clarity, levels, and color that you need.
Step 2. Convert that copy layer into a B&W version. Go to Image/Adjustments/Hue Saturation and slide the Saturation all the way down. Be sure that you retain the blacks in the shadows and the whites in the highlights.
Step 3. Duplicate that B&W layer copy. Name this layer ‘Overlay w/ gradient‘.
Step 4. Create a solid black layer just below the top layer of the B&W layer copy.
Step 5. Go back to the Overlay w/ gradient layer and apply a Layer Mask. With a soft large brush paint with black to hide parts of the image you want to conceal, to the mask.
Step 6. Merge the ’solid black’ with the ‘Overlay w/ gradient’ layer by selecting both in the layer palette and selecting merge layers.
Step 7. Set the ‘Overlay w/ gradient’ layer mode to Overlay.
Step 8. Create a new layer at the top and name it ‘Light ray’. Using either the Polygonal Lasso tool or a mix of various brushes create a light beam that has the shape of a triangle the emits light from the top of the image down.
Creating the triangle with the Polygonal Lasso tool with a feather selection of about 10 or more pixels worked great. Next duplicate that light ray and flip it Horizontally. Merge the layers together. Set the ‘Light ray‘ layer mode to Overlay and lower the Opacity to about 40%.
Final: To get a toned look to the overall image add a solid color layer to the top of the layer order. Set the Layer Mode to Color and play with the level of Opacity.
Thats the technique! The steps can be used in any combination to get various results.
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In case you weren’t throughly convinced yet that almost all of the images in magazine or advertisements are manipulated or Photoshopped to some degree…look at this! Wow- how did the editor miss that one?
(via: gigglesugar)
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Photo lovers, check out this cool new way to see what people are uploading around the globe. I just saw a beach in Taiwan, someones science project in Japan, and a bronze sculpture from Oslo Germany.
Flickrvision swoops around the Google globe Superman-style, pausing every few seconds to show a photo that somebody, somewhere in the world, uploaded to Flickr just minutes ago.
(via: photojojo)
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Maximize Compatibility: Get rid of the pop-up when your saving your PSD
Jul 3, 2007 by Patrick Winfield | Design, TutorialDoes the Maximize Compatibility option pop-up when you go to save your PSD?
All you need to do is go into your preferences and make a few adjustments so Photoshop knows what you want to do without asking.
Step 1. Go to Photoshop/Preferences/General or Edit/Preferences/General.
Step 2. Select the File Handling option. Under File Compatibility the last section Maximize PSD and PSB file compatibility select the option for Always in the drop down.
That’s it, no more pop-up’s when saving!
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Also a quick way to re-size images and make them crisper with Bicubic Sharper:
Step 1. Open your image to be re-sized. Go to Image/Image Size.
Step 2. Go to the last drop down box and select Bicubic Sharper. Then fill in the rest of your Image Size requirements.
This will re-size the image and make it look as if it is sharper than if you had just done the regular process of sizing down. The differences between the 2 images below are subtle, but if you look close you can see that the Bicubic Sharper is a bit clearer and shows more of the detail.
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“Drop the Presets!” Create Your Own Unique Drop Shadow
Jun 28, 2007 by Patrick Winfield | Design, TutorialA Drop Shadow is a visual effect that gives an object an illusion of depth by placing a shadow beneath an object. It is often used functionally to draw attention to an object, say a button or a text box. Text is also sometimes rendered with a subtle drop shadow that further emphasizes it and pops it off of the background.
In Photoshop you have the ability to create a Layer Style of a Drop Shadow and go back and change it at anytime- that’s helpful! You can even make all the layer styles the same and create a Global Light that they will all retain.
Sometimes it is better though to just make your own-why? Well it is surely unique. By using this simple technique the Drop Shadow will be on its own layer and also just as easy, or easier, to edit later on in the process.
Step 1. Start by making a selection of the object. A lot of working in Photoshop is about making selections- so make it the best you can. Use a Magic Wand tool or Magnetic Lasso Selection and then jump into Quick Mask Mode and further refine the selection with the Brush tool. Zoom in on the pixels and make what you are working on fill the whole screen.
Step 2. Copy and Paste your selection onto a New Layer.
Step 3. Duplicate the layer one more time. Now you have 3 layers total- 2 with the object and 1 with the original photo or image.
Step 4. With the layer below the top layer selected open up Hue and Saturation. Slide the Saturation and Darkness all the way down till the layer is darkened out.
Step 5. Go to Filter/Blur/Guassian Blur and create a slight blur with a low radius.
Step 6. Move the layer around and create the angle that the light would be hitting the object above. Using the Transform controls you can manipulate the Skew, Scale, and Perspective of the shape. That’s it…
Extra: Play with the Layer Mode settings, Opacity, and also try applying a Pattern Fill to the shadow to give it some texture.
Side Note: With the anticipation of the June 29th release of the iphone I thought this graphic of the evolution of Apple’s work was very cool and informative…what does the future hold?
apple_evolution.jpg Click to view the full sized image.
(via: chomp-chomp)
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How to create: Line Effect Patterns in Photoshop
Jun 21, 2007 by Patrick Winfield | Design, TutorialCreating line effect patterns in Photoshop is easy and can come in handy for that little bit of texture applied to a background of a page or another way to spice up a photograph.
Line patterns can also make a ‘heavy’ image, one with lots of gradients and tones, a bit smaller in file size thus better for web use.
Line effect looks great on the screen because it mimics, to some degree, the way a screen displays light. This can work with printed images and give your images a more graphical feel, like a screen printing process, digital screen shot or transfer.
Step 1. Create a new document with dimensions of 2 pixels by 2 pixels and a transparent background. Zoom in till the document is larger and easier to work with.
Step 2. Using the Pencil Tool with a 1 pixel radius create a diagonal line by making 2 marks- one top right and the other bottom left. Or you can play with the marks and make any pattern you like.
Step 3. Select everything on this layer by going to Select/All. Copy it by going to Edit/Copy.
Step 4. Go to Edit/Define Pattern and name your pattern then hit OK.
Step 5. Create a new layer above your photo or image and fill it with your pattern by going to Edit/Fill and choose Pattern from the drop down menu and also select the pattern you created which should be the last in the list.
You can also play with applying the fill directly to the image/photo and then going to Edit/Fade Fill and looking through the various Layer Modes and levels of Opacity. Try working in a Layer Mask over that layer and only make parts of the pattern visible.
Extra: I am always looking for Photoshop Brushes to add to my arsenal and found some here from Stephanie Shimerdla at Obsidiandawn.com
They are all about trees and leafs and can also be used creatively to make some distressed looking textures to any image. Download them into the Brushes folder in your Adobe Photoshop program file. Then when you are using the brush right click and select Load Brush and then select the file from the list.
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