In the second, concluding article of his 2-part tutorial explaining Photoshop’s Gradient tool, Jean Miele explains how to use linear, reflected and radial gradients in layer masks to improve your digital photographs. In this article Jean takes us through four clear, easy steps, and also includes more tips for making the most out of gradients in both Photoshop and Lightroom. Click through for links to the article.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
by Sarah Hipwell
What is compositing? Simply, it means to combine two or more images to make a single picture.
As a photographer, I’m constantly coming up with different concepts that I feel might make a good photo. But it is not always possible to get the perfect shot in one session. There have been numerous occasions while on a shoot where the light was not bright enough for the particular shot that I had in mind. On other occasions the background was too distracting. This is where the ability to create composite imagery in Photoshop is a huge advantage.
To produce a composite image in Photoshop, you need to isolate the subjects from the background of your various source photos. When I started out, I used the pen tool to help isolate my subjects. Now, I use the ‘quick selection’ and ‘refine edge’ tools which are superb and are a much faster way of doing extractions, especially for isolating hair!
But for this tutorial, I’m going to use the pen tool to create a path which I then save this as an alpha channel selection. I believe the pen tool should never be overlooked as an excellent way for beginners to increase their proficiency level with Photoshop. If you are new to using the pen tool, it does take a bit of getting used to but after time, you will pick up speed and accuracy. The big plus side to creating paths in this way is that they are re-editable and non-destructive.
I have highlighted three key features:
Here’s the method:
I took the photo above for a concept shot titled ‘Recycled toilet paper’. I wanted a bright blue sky with white fluffy clouds as the background. The above shot did not have the background that I wanted. So I waited a couple of days and I got the shot I wanted. See below:
I made my selection using the pen tool to isolate the toilet rolls and clothesline. Zoom in up to 300 – 400% to get a good outline, as shown below.
Holding down the Alt/Ctrl key enables you to move anchor points and direction lines and again make any edits to your lines and curves.
When you have finished plotting your anchor points, you can then save this outline in the Paths Palette. This selection can then be added as a layer mask. It should resemble the black and white image on the right below.
I imported the new sky background by going to the File menu and select Place. The image then appeared as a Smart Object and on a separate layer. I had to reduce the size but the quality of the image was maintained.
When I was happy with the position of the new sky background, I merged all the layers onto one. I used a keyboard shortcut (Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) to achieve this. The reason for this is that the next adjustment isn’t non-destructive so that if I want to redo this edit, I would have to delete the layer and repeat the above step again.
The final adjustment was to go to Image menu and select Match Color to make sure the color is balanced between the two images. Using Image>Adjustments>Match Color I played with the two sliders to get the color of the image more uniform in appearance. See the link below where I uploaded the final composite image to iStockphoto.com
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-6231026-recycling-toilet-paper.php?st=faf18be
See more of Sarah Hipwell’s work at her website – SarahHipwell.com
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
An Introduction to Photoshop Compositing for Beginners
21 face-retouching tutorials are at your service! Realistic perfect skin, teeth and eyes heve never been so easy to reach.
The post 50 Portrait Retouching Tutorials To Take Your Photoshop Skills To A New Level appeared first on Photodoto.
Creating a reflection using Photoshop is one of those things that at first glance looks really hard, but really isn’t, once you break down the steps (just light Light Painting which I covered in another two part series). In this article I’m going to demystify creating a reflection, a technique that works particularly well on images with open pavement, and HDR processed images which tend to make the pavement look wet already.
I recently showed one my HDR classes how to do this, and they all followed along with me step by step. Some of them were using Elements (which works just fine, but you may find the menus and choices look slightly different), and this technique can be done using that program too, so if you use Elements, not to worry. Many of my students were also self proclaimed “Photoshop novices” and when I asked them if they thought they’d be able to this when I showed the before and after images, most said “no”! But they all did, and we were done in less than 10 minutes. **Note that also included me going super slow to ensure each of the 12 people in the class were on the same page with me. I’m going to guess this will take less than 5 – ready GO!
That’s it! You want a few more details?
Let’s dive in a little deeper into each step
Using the marque tool (“M” is the keyboard shortcut) draw a box around an area of your image that will become the reflection (see Figure #1 below). Make sure you go edge to edge on the sides, and get enough of the image vertically. If you grab more than you need that’s fine we’ll be moving it around and masking later anyway.
Figure #1 make a selection
Copy the selection as a new layer. You can do that a few ways.
Figure #2 right click>Layer Via Copy
Figure #3 Copy from Edit menu
If you chose the “layer via copy” method above you already have the selection pasted as a new layer. If you haven’t already done that go ahead and paste either from the Edit>Paste menu option of the keyboard shortcut “command/control+v”. You will end up with something that looks like this, Figure #4 below.
Figure #4 paste new layer
Doesn’t look much different right? Right! Because it’s basically on top of itself. But look at your layers, it is there on a new layer and it only grabbed part of the image. Now the magic begins!
Next from your Edit menu choose “Edit>Transform>Flip vertical” to flip this new layer upside down. You should end up with something funny looking like Figure #5 below.
Figure #5 flip vertically
Figure #6 move tool
Next select your MOVE tool from your tool palette (see Figure #6 right – “v” is the keyboard shortcut) and grab the flipped layer and drag it down until the images start to line up where the reflection will begin. In my image I’m using the edge of the sidewalk in front of the diner. If it doesn’t line up perfectly don’t worry about it, you can mask any imperfect bits out later in step six.
Now you want to have something that looks like Figure #7 below. The reflection is in roughly the right position. Make sure you don’t move side to side, just down, otherwise you’ll have gaps on the edges of your reflection.
NOTE: once you’ve selected the Move Tool, you can also use the up and down arrows on your keyboard to move the layer up and down. This works great for smaller adjustments when you get it close to position.
Figure #7 position the layer
Figure #8 Lighten blend modes
From your layers panel change the layer blend mode to one of the “lighten mode”. You will find the layers blend modes near the top of your layers panel, next to “opacity”. By default the blend mode is “normal”.
The Lighten modes are the ones in the third section down (see Figure #8 right), they include: Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge, Lighter Color. Layer blend modes change how the selected layer interacts with the one below it (the original image). By selecting one of the options in this section it will only show areas of this layer that are lighter than the one below it, and any areas darker will not appear. For reflections I usually choose Lighten or Screen, depends on the image. Try them all and choose the one that looks best for your image. For this example I’m using Screen mode.
Now I have something that looks a little closer to a real reflection (see Figure #9 below).
Are you still with me!? Do you have something reasonably similar?
Figure #9 change the layer blend mode
Figure #10 add a layer mask
Okay we’re almost done and it’s looking pretty good. But in my image the neon sign in the reflection is too bright. It doesn’t look natural because reflections are usually darker than the original – so we’re going to tone it down using a mask and the gradient tool.
First, make a layer mask by clicking on the “add layer mask” icon at the bottom of your Layers Panel (Figure #10 right). You can also do it by going to the Layers menu>Layer mask>Reveal all.
Figure #11 gradient tool
Figure #12 foreground/background colors
Next select the Gradient tool from your tools panel. Keyboard shortcut is “g” but make sure you have the gradient tool and not the paint bucket. See Figure #11 above. Hit the “d” key on your keyboard to set your foreground/background colors to default, then hit “x” to switch them. Make sure you see black as your foreground color and white as the background color (see Figure #12 right).
Once you have your colors set to black and white, and your gradient tool selected and ready for use – make sure you are on the layer mask not the layer. You can tell because whatever is active has corner brackets around it. If you layer thumbnail is selected, just click on the white layer mask thumbnail to make it active. We need to make sure we are doing this on the mask, NOT the layer.
How masks work is that anything in white on the mask reveals the contents of the layer. Where ever there is black on the mask it hides that area of the layer. So we want to hide the outer edges of this layer so it fades out gradually towards the bottom of the image and looks more natural.
With the gradient tool, by default it paints from the foreground color, to the background – fading from one to the other depending on how we create the gradient. Sometimes it takes a little experimenting to get it just right but you can always “undo” using the handy “command/control+z” shortcut on your keyboard and it goes back one step or undoes what you just applied.
NOTE: ”undo” is your best friend in Photoshop, if you learn no other keyboard shortcuts, memorize this one!
So, to apply it to our reflection start with the cross hairs for the tool in the middle of your image, near the bottom. TIP: holding the SHIFT key down will keep the gradient from applying at an angle, it will just go straight up. Click and drag the tool up (you’ll see a line drawing the gradient spread) and let go when you get near the top of your reflection. If it’s not exactly how you want it you may have to start a little more away from the bottom edge, or drag it up higher, or other variations.
NOTE: with the gradient tool on a mask you don’t actually even need to “undo” if you just drag another one overtop it replaces the first one. But it’s still good to know how to undo!
Here’s the image with my gradient applied to the layer mask. Notice on the mask it goes from black to white? So it’s hiding the bottom area of this layer which is what we want. See Figure #13 below.
Figure #13 gradient applied to the layer mask
Now if you want to do any other masking to show or hide certain areas of the reflection just use your brush tool (“b” shortcut) at a lowered opacity (10-20%) and paint with black on the mask over areas you want to hide, and white on areas you want to show. In this image I painted over the edges of the diner where I felt it was still a bit too bright. You can also change the opacity of your layer to adjust it that way too.
SeeFigure #14 below for my final version. Notice my mask where I painted a little up the sides to hide those areas just a little bit more. You could also paint away a little in the middle of the reflection where the pavement is the darkest if you wanted. That’s the neat thing about photography – it’s all subjective!
It’s really easy to get upset or hurt feelings when someone else says something that we perceive as negative about one of our images, something we put blood, sweat and tears into, right!? Well my personal opinion is that it is just their opinion, one person, and you don’t have to agree with them. If they have a valid, or constructive criticism YOU get to decide if you want to take it on board or, just agree to disagree and move on. Life is too short to worry about pleasing other people.
Do photography for you! If other people like it, then great!
If not, oh well! Move along and life goes on.
Figure #14
So, think you can do this? Give it a try!
Here is my image to play with, in case you don’t have one that will work. It’s 2000 pixels wide which is plenty big enough for this test.
Download diner image – just click on this link and save the image that opens in a new tab.
A few trivial things FYI about this image:
Okay, off you go and let’s see your results!
Cheers Darlene
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
How to create a reflection in Photoshop in 6 easy steps
Adobe Photoshop has become ubiquitous since its introduction more than 20 years ago, but it isn’t the only game in town. In this article, we’ve selected 10 photo editing programs that aren’t all as well-known as Photoshop, but which are well worth investigating if you’re looking for other options. Click through for a link to the full article.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
In Part One of the Light Painting Tutorial I went over how to do the photography part: equipment, camera settings, set up, lighting, potential pitfalls, and step by step instruction on how to do light painting shots. In this article Part Two, we’re going to take a look at how to combine multiple exposures in Photoshop.
What you need to do this:
Note: if your computer is slow you may not need a new one: just upgrade your RAM and get a bigger hard drive or empty a bunch of stuff off and see if that helps.
If you are using Adobe Lightroom, you can open your original files directly from Lightroom into Photoshop (wherever I mention Photoshop you can use CS, Elements or your usual editor that has layers capabilities). I do find however that if you are shooting Raw opening 12 or more Raw files into Photoshop really tends to bog it down. So in this case I have exported JPGs first and then opened those into Photoshop. If you are opening from Lightroom directly follow these steps:
Figure #1
If you are using Photoshop you will follow almost the same steps using Bridge (or the mini browser where you can see your thumbnails)
Figure #2
Once you have all your files opened as layers into one document in Photoshop you want to make sure they are perfectly aligned. If you used a tripod and it didn’t move they should be pretty close, but we want to make sure they are perfect. Follow these steps:
Figure #3
Figure #4 left – Figure #5 right
Now that your images are aligned perfectly we’re ready to do some magic! In this section we’re going to “turn on the lights” from each image one by one. Here’s how:
Figure #6
Figure #7
Figure #8
Now if you click on each of the Eyeball icons for the layers above, you will see the lights turn on in the different spots you painted in each exposure. In the example of the firetruck here are a few views of the overall image as I turn on a layer above one at a time.
I’ve skipped a couple here, but you get the idea. Notice how as I turn each subsequent layer on a new part of the truck is magically lit up. There are a few issues however, as it’s never, or rarely perfect right out of the camera. But we can fix those things easily too using layer masks. Do you notice the following issues in the image above?
To fix any issues and clean up the image follow these steps:
Figure #9
Figure #10
This is what my layers look like with the masks added and areas painted to show only the bits I want from each exposure. Remember to save your file in two formats: PSD to preserve all the layers, and a final JPG you can use for printing or sharing online (you may have to make a smaller one for email sharing).
Okay so it seems like a lot of steps but once you get the hang of it, then it really doesn’t take that long to make something you can wow your friends with. They’ll be asking you “how’d you do that?!” in no time! Let’s take a look at the steps in short form again:
I hope you enjoyed this two part series, once again here is the final image.
“1956 Le France Pumper” Corpus Christi, Texas
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Light Painting Part Two – Photoshop
Yesterday’s announcement by Adobe that it will cease ‘perpetual license’ sales of Photoshop and its Creative Suite counterparts has generated considerable backlash here on dpreview and across the web. With such a significant change in store, we spoke today with Adobe VP of Creative Solutions, Winston Hendrickson for his response to the uproar.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Today Adobe announced a new branding of their flagship Photoshop product to be released later this year, Photoshop CC. The new version will only be available via a monthly subscription to Adobe’s Creative Cloud and will not be sold as a traditional boxed application that consumers can purchase.
Probably the most anticipated new feature in the next iteration of Photoshop is a revolutionary new image sharpening tool that focuses on fixing camera shake issues.
The new tool analyzes images that are out of focus due to the slight movement or motion that takes place while a shutter is open. There are lots of reasons why photographers may find camera shake in their images. Many images shot slower than about 125th of a second are susceptible to camera shake unless you’re on a tripod or have a very steady hand. Telephoto shots, especially can be problematic.
With the new version of Photoshop CC, Adobe uses an algorithm to try and detect which direction the camera was moving that produced the shake. They then try to account for the movement back into the direction of a steady image without camera shake. This new sharpening tool won’t help you with other types of focal blur issues, like lens position, but it does address a fairly common issue dealt with by photographers.
Adobe had previously offered a sneak peak of this new technology in a video that they posted to Youtube. Watch the video and you’ll be impressed.
What makes this interesting to me is that there are a lot of old images that I’ve taken in the past that now will suddenly become salvageable.
This new technology advancement should be yet another reminder to photographers why they should save ALL of their images, even the bad ones that they don’t think they can use. With technology advancements in image processing, I’m finding more and more images that I’d previously dismissed due to problems. Whether previous Adobe noise reduction tech or newer tech like this new sharpening tool, it pays to save all of your images no matter what. Storage is cheap and you never know when you may need that image that you never knew you needed at the time. Even years after you are dead, those images may be important to someone, somewhere for some reason.
While the camera shake feature is the sizzle of the new Photoshop upgrade, there are several other enhancements they have made to the program as well including, smart Sharpen (new technology promising more realistic sharpening without halos or noise) and new upsampling tech (this helps make your photos look better when you make them larger than you processed them).
The biggest news though is Adobe’s moving Photoshop 100% into the Cloud and 100% by subscription. You’ll still be able to purchase Photoshop CS for the time being, but it won’t have the new features available in CC.
Pricing varies by type of customer but starts at $ 49.99 a month per person for individuals. Existing Creative Suite customers, students, and teachers will get a discount to $ 29.99 a month. Creative Cloud has a lot more applications than just Photoshop and also includes Lightroom and a whole suite of other Adobe Creative applications. It also includes integration with Behance, a portfolio site for creatives that Adobe recently purchased.
Thomas Hawk Digital Connection
Adobe has said it will no longer be developing its Creative Suite range of software, leaving its subscription and cloud-based Creative Cloud as the only way of accessing the latest version of Photoshop. Adobe has been trying to encourage users away from the traditional one-off payment licenses and on to a monthly payment model, with features such as online storage and syncing between devices. This latest move ups the ante by making it the only option for future versions of the software.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Adobe has updated its suite of Creative Cloud software, with the latest versions rebranded with the appendage ‘CC’. Adobe Photoshop CC highlights include the Camera Shake Reduction tool that Adobe demoed earlier this year, and the ability to apply Camera Raw as a filter to any raster, vector or video layer. Creative Cloud members can now sync their Photoshop preferences across multiple devices. Click to read about these and other Photoshop CC features.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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