Photoshop Creative

ALL THE TUTORIAL FILES YOU NEED Available to download from blog.photoshopcreative.co.uk/tutorial-files

PLUS! GUIDE INSIDE A PHOTOGRAPHY

MASTERCLASS MASTER LAYERS, BLENDING AND MORE

LAYER YOUR

PHOTOS  Create photorealistic compositions  Build your own scenes  Optimise with blend modes  Improve your editing skills

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STOCK PHOTO SECRETS Expert tips to create your own photo library

STEP-BY GUIDE-SSTEP INSIDE

5PLUG-INS ULTIMATE

The best add-ons to give your images the wow factor ALSO INSIDE

LEARN NEW SKILLS

Restoration challenge Ultimate guide to gradients Photograph your own models

INCREDIBLE PAINT EFFECTS Play with perspective Master retouching

Achieve special FX

Make the most of the Brush tool for amazing artwork

ISSUE 99

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Learn how to create fun Photoshop edits that are good enough to eat! Head over to page 50 for this tasty tutorial

Welcome 5 things you will learn this issue 01 Dynamic edits Learn speedy edits and great techniques

02 Photograph your own models Put your friends in your art with our camera advice

03 Colour in your line art Learn how to achieve incredible shading effects

04 Layer your photos

Any time you put one image into another is called a composition, which means a great deal of digital projects fall into that category! Let our eightpage special take you through the world of compositing. Learn to layer your photos to achieve everything from photorealistic compositions to dreamy castle scenes (p16-23). We’ve also got some great tool guides for you. Over on page 72 we pit the Clone Stamp tool and the Spot Healing Brush tool against each other in the ultimate retouching challenge. Meanwhile, try building your own funky stickers on page 66 to jazz up your stationary. So, enjoy the read and be creative. Don’t forget, I’m always on the lookout for new work, so upload your creations to the site and your art could appear in the next issue!

Discover the ultimate guide to compositions

05 Top 5 photo plug-ins Our favourite five plug-ins to revamp your photos

Charis Webster Deputy Editor [email protected]

ISSUE 100 ON SALE 2 MAY! 3

Contents Essentials

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Readers’ gallery A handful of images from our talented readers

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Readers’ Challenge

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Enter the Challenge

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Feature: Layer your photos

The winner of our creative challenge has been chosen Your chance to win a photo bundle worth £234!

www.photoshopcreative.co.uk

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Layer your photos From basic to advanced, learn key compositing skills

8 pages of essential compositing advice

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Tutorials

96

Creative reviews

100

Here’s where your step-bystep tutorials begin A Nikon camera, portrait plug-in and get our vote

Subscriptions Great discounts when you subscribe (US p78)

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On the disc

114

Expert interview

Find out what freebies we’ve got for you on the disc A one on one with impressive digital artist Shaban Asim

Useful tips 36

Top 5

59

Quick fix

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Top 10

71 102

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Check out our favourite photographic plug-ins Change colours in three easy steps Top 10 tricks for using Adobe Bridge

Quick fix Make your own custommade greeting cards

Advice centre Photoshop and Elements questions answered

Readers’ Gallery 06

Q&A: Your Photoshop questions answered P102

now SAVE Subscribe Turn to page 100 to get this

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amazing deal! US page 78

Tutorials your line art 26 Colour Learn incredible shading skills

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to produce amazing artwork

family tree 32 Modern Create a traditional family tree with modern look

a grunge poster 38 Make Discover key skills to achieve an urban, shattered effect

44 Photograph your own models

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Getting the start photo right makes editing easy and fun

colours 48 Boost One talented reader shows us how he did this edit

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Colour in your line art

filter 50 Displace Utilise the Displace filters for eye-catching edits

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edits 56 Dynamic Revamp your photos with incredible colour effects

Incredible shading techniques

a bank note 60 Design If you had your own currency, what would it look like?

your own stickers 66 Make Show off your doodles with

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custom-made stickers

challenge 72 Retouching The Clone Stamp and the Healing Brush tool battle it out

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composites 76 Easy Get the most from stock for

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basic but beautiful images

Dynamic edits Learn great tools to revamp photos New to Photoshop? Check out our introductory guide

masks 80 Clipping Learn how to use clipping masks for creative edits

88 Panoramas Turn several photos into one beautiful shot

colour 82 Selective Turn photos into art with

Gradient tool 92 The Learn all about gradients

easy and fun techniques

and why they’re essential

effects 86 Sketch Easy ways to turn photos into sketches

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READERS’ IMAGES Become inspired by the work of your fellow readers this issue

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traight from the melting pot of creativity, here is a grand collection of the finest Photoshop art made by our skilled readers. This issue sees a mix of different styles and ways in which Photoshop has been used. From Luigi Gallo’s mystical, sky-high composition to John Phillips’s dark and eerie poster design, there is a lot to admire.

IMAGE

OF THE MONTH

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We always love seeing the ideas you come up with and how you implement them. Mubasher Qureshi has created an invisible person, where only the gloves give away the presence of someone there. Ellen Allmye has explored the pretend vanity of children influenced by adults, and Bill Bailey brings someone through a time hole in his image Back To The Past.

Get in touch Create your own gallery online PhotoshopCreative.co.uk Upload your images to Facebook. Search PhotoshopCreative Tweet us your creative art work @PshopCreative Alternatively, you can email: [email protected]

Don’t hesitate to keep sending in your own Photoshop artwork, as we’ll look to get it printed in these gallery pages, along with other Photoshop Creative readers. Be sure to tell us a little bit about your image too, because we’re always keen to understand the processes behind each one. Most of all – have fun! And, until the next issue, happy editing!

Luigi Gallo

Ata Alishahi

www.photoshop creative.co.uk/user/ Gallus

www.photoshop creative.co.uk/user/Ata

I wanted to convey a feeling of relaxation and lightness, in which all elements, even artificial ones, become one with nature without spoiling its purity. I started by searching for individual images, modifying them and giving them the right shading. In the end, I balanced the tone and colours to give it the right visual impact.

A combination of custom brushes and photos were used in Heavenly (above). Layering techniques with textures and brushes were important for this effect. I had lots of fun working on Leopard (right). I used adjustments and applied texture using custom and preset brushes. I then played around with the blending options.

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John Phillips www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/Johnphill

This was done entirely in Photoshop Touch on the iPad. I combined three different pictures, using the blending tools available in the app. Along with those, I utilised the Eraser and a few effects such as TV Monitor and Sleepy Hollow.

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Bill Bailey www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/Bill_Bailey

I didn’t get the chance to photograph a diner, so I first rendered it completely in Photoshop, drawing each individual piece and the electric poles and wires. I had 120 layers for the diner alone and over 100 layers for the overall image.

Thiago Idehama www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/thiagopi

In my photomontage Swimming Home (below), colour saturation, masks and blending were applied. Fake hair was added to give the impression of the girl being submerged in water. Color Efex Pro 4’s Cross Balance filter was also used. A picture of a woman was used in Smoke Woman (right) to transform the shape of the smoke. I also applied Smoke brushes, as well as Warp and Liquify, to get to the final image. A Bleach filter was applied all over the image using Color Efex Pro 4.

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Mubasher Qureshi www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/bushias

I set up my camera on a tripod and shot the blank table first. Then I placed my hands in different positions and took photos of each glove, being careful not to overlap the previous hand. Then it was just a case of masking out my arm or body.

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Ocelio Targino www.photoshop creative.co.uk/user/ Ocelio_Targino

This image was made for an event for my group of Photoshop artists. The composition is simple, and was made using layers and colour fills to create a fantasy scene.

Jessica Dueck www.photoshop creative.co.uk/user/ StarsColdNight

The best tools in Photoshop that let me create the magical feelings in this image are the new Blur tools and the 3D capabilities. I used more than 30 layers in this piece!

Photoshop Creative

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Ellen Allmye www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/Lokasp30

It’s A Girl (right) represents the innocence of a child with vanity. She is trying to look grown up, as she wants to imitate adults. I used brushes and light effects, and mixed colours together. Emanating Energy (left) shows that, even amid sadness, you can enjoy good energy from the elements of nature, music and people. In the background, I used a modified fractal. I smoothed each individual element using brushes.

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Thomas Lennon www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/LittleTimmy

This photomanipulation took me quite a while. I’ve always loved how dramatic lighting can make so much of a difference, and I really tried to apply it to this image.

Roko Duševic ´ www.photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/reyed33

The cold atmosphere of Voices From Above (right) is down to Gradient Maps and Curves adjustments. The snow was created using the Noise filter, and I painted shadows and highlights with a soft brush to blend the elements. In Lost Melody (below) I used Curves and Color Balance to blend the desert and sky in a warm sunset scene. The guitar is meant to look as though it’s been there for a long time, and for that I applied texture over it.

Photoshop Creative

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READERS’ CHALLENGE Challenge entries

Simon’s Choice “Kristy has done a great job making the bike seem like it’s tearing through the page. The splatter effects give a great sense of motion.”

The winner of our Challenge is…

C

ongratulations to Kristy Charbonneau for winning our Challenge. Her wonderful image I’m Out Of Here! makes great use of our biker stock as the subject. Other entries this issue look just as impressive, especially with the penguin featuring in Chantal Keller’s image. Ralph Peel explores sketching effects with a few different images and Franks Cervantes’ Colors Lines takes a completely different approach. Want to be a part of the Challenge? Create your own image and send it to us, or submit it online via www. photoshopcreative.co.uk.

1 Kristy Charbonneau I’m Out Of Here! After adjusting the colour and tone I duplicated the layers, created a frame and altered the perspective. A brush was used to erase the frame and to create the splatter effect…

2 Chantal Keller Best Friends Making the [figure in the original] disappear and replacing him with the penguin was a big challenge.

3 Franks Cervantes Colors Lines For this image I used the smoke file. I used a filter to define the image, then went to the plug-in Fractalius. I played with layer blend modes a lot and got this picture.

4 Ralph Peel Sketch book I turned each photo into a sketch [and] proceeded to paint over [them]. I then cut them out, placed them on the open book and used the Transform Distort tool…

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Photoshop Creative

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Readers’ Challenge WINNER

Upload your images to

photoshopcreative.co.uk

Download our images Think you can do better? Prove it! Get creative with the images on your disc and you could win a fantastic prize! Remember, you can use as many of the images as you like (from previous issues too!) and include your own photos if you wish. Just head over to www. photoshopcreative.co.uk and hit the Challenge link to get hold of previous images, check out the competition and submit your entries. Good luck!

3 4

THE PRIZE Alien Skin’s Photo Bundle

An incredible prize is on offer, in the form of Photo Bundle from www.alienskin. com. The Bundle includes award-winning photography plug-ins Blow Up, Bokeh, Exposure and Snap Art. Each is purposebuilt to enhance your Photoshop workflow by improving image quality, saving time and providing creative freedom. Simply upload your entries for a chance to win!

WORTH £234! Photoshop Creative

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Feature

START IMAGES

LAYER YOUR

PHOTOS Layering enables boundless creativity, from basic compositions to eye-catching artwork GROUPS

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Selection and Magic Wand for hotoshop is not just known perfect cutouts, to learning how to for its one-at-a-time image blend layers together for truly editing, but also for its seamless results. complex multi-layered Creating compositions is a great compositions. Here we take a step away from the everyday photo edit way to explore Photoshop too. You can find tools and adjustments and glance into the realms of that may, or may not, work for you composing fantasy scenes, space and even stumble across art and the visually abstract. But something new. before we do, we’ll kick things off with “Photoshop really When you feel like got the some basics: makes it easy for you’ve basics, you can try showing you how anyone of any creating a fantasy one background can be replaced with ability to create composition that castles, something, well… stunning results combines mountains and more interesting! using one or more plenty of mist. Here Photoshop really stock images” layers will start to makes it easy for build up and anyone of any ability masking techniques prove vital for to create stunning results using keeping hold of parts of each layer, one or more stock images. without actually deleting them. Choosing a selection method, So don’t hold back and enjoy adapting masks and making creating your own composition, be adjustments all form part of the it an outer-space theme, or a processes involved in creating simple selection cutout. As soon layered artwork. Here we show as you start, you’re sure to get a you where to begin, from combining tools such as the Quick thirst for more!

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Photoshop Creative

Keep layers inside Groups to tidy up the palette and stay organised in busy compositions. Rename Groups according to what’s in them.

ACTIVE LAYER

COLOUR COORDINATE Add colour to a Group to help indicate layers of similar content, such as foliage. Ctrl/right-click on a layer, or go to Layer>Layer Properties, to view available colours.

The active layer is always highlighted as light blue. To select more than one layer, either hold Shift or use Cmd/Ctrl while clicking on layers.

ADJUSTMENTS MASKS Layer masks can be applied to Groups in just the same way as on single layers, meaning you can apply edits to everything inside it in one swoop.

Adjustment layers are vital for balancing lighting and improving tonal ranges for each layer – these two affect just the Background containing the actual landscape.

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Expert tip Smart Objects Smart Objects and Smart Filters are helpful for keeping edits tucked away inside a layer. When you convert a layer to a Smart Object (Layer>Smart Objects >Convert to Smart Object) a small symbol will appear in the Layers palette indicating this. Simply double-click on its thumbnail to open the layer in a separate file, keeping the main composition free of clutter.

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BACK TO BASICS Transport a subject to another image using Photoshop Starting with the basics and working your way up to more-complex compositions is the best route to take. The success or failure of a composition all comes down to accurate selections, matching colour balance and careful lighting throughout. When taking a figure out of a scene, try to make a sharp and crisp selection around them. A layer mask helps to retouch the edges of the cutout before transporting it into another scene. When the selection and cut-out process is all done and dusted, it’s then down to a blend of adjustments and filters to take it from an average composition to a stunning one.

START IMAGES

Shadows To make this composition believable, we have to include a Drop Shadow in the same direction as the lighting. Double-click on the model’s layer and add a Drop Shadow from the Layer Style menu. Apply subtle blurring to the shadow by increasing Depth and keep Opacity to 100%. Hit OK, then Ctrl/rightclick on its layer and select Create Layer. Use Edit>Transform>Distort to lay the shadow on the floor. As you’ll no longer be able to edit the layer style, use the Opacity slider in the Layers palette to gradually reduce its strength.

WHITE GLARE White was painted behind the model using a soft brush, on a blank layer with 50% Opacity. This mimics a back-lighting effect and boosts the appeal.

ADD INTEREST When composing images like this, there is nothing stopping you placing other objects such as a hot air balloon. Be sure to position this new layer under any lighting adjustments.

SELECTIVE BLURRING The Gaussian Blur filter blurred the background and added depth. A layer mask helped selectively remove parts of the blurred layer.

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Photoshop Creative

HIGH PASS To finish, all the layers were merged via Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E and a Hard Light blend mode was set. Using Filter> Other>High Pass with a setting of 18px boosted the finer details.

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AN EASY CUTOUT LEVELS The whole composition was made darker using the Levels adjustment layer and sliding the midtones pointer to the right.

01 Easy cutouts

Make a Quick Selection around the figure. Use Refine Edge in the Select menu to paint over strands of hair against the backdrop. Keep Feather set to 0-0.5px and add a mask.

02 Resize to fit

Ctrl/right-click the layer, press Duplicate Layer and select the main image’s file name from the Document list. Try not to enlarge the layer too much, as its quality may decrease significantly.

03 Clip adjustment

LENS FLARE Rendering a lens flare (Filter> Render> Lens Flare) brought the composition together. This was applied to a black layer set to Screen blend mode and stretched out via Edit>Free Transform.

MARQUEE TOOLS Using the Elliptical Marquee, with Feather set to 15px, Opt/Alt+Shift was held to drag a circular selection from the planet’s centre. After going to Select>Inverse, and hitting Delete, the layer was then pulled onto the composition.

COSMIC CREATIONS Put your brush and selection skills to the test and make your very own space scene Filling up the vast emptiness of outer space with planets and stars is a great way to practise some fundamental techniques. Searching for stock images of our planet and Sun is easier than you think. This Earth image can be downloaded for free from NASA’s official Visible Earth Collection (http:// visibleearth.nasa.gov). For pictures of the sun, a particularly good source worth checking out is Stock.XCHNG (www.sxc.hu).

LAYER STYLES A yellow Color Overlay helped remove the orange in the original image of the Sun.

BLACK FILL A black fill under all the other layers gave the perfectly simple backdrop for this galactic result.

Brightness/Contrast (Layer>New Adjustment Layer) boosts the lighting on the subject to match the landscape. Once the adjustment is in the Layers palette, apply Layer> Create Clipping Mask, to only affect the subject.

04

Inner Glow

A white Inner Glow on the subject will help to blend the layer into the background. If the background is already quite bright, keep this glow soft and thin to remove any harsh edges.

Build a star

Stardust

Stars can be painted into your scene using the Brush tool. Choose a solid round brush tip and open the Brushes palette from the Window menu. Set Scattering to 1,000%, Spacing to 170% and apply with a white brush to create a spray of white dots. Reduce the size of your brush using the left square bracket key and apply smaller dots to bring depth to the field.

To enhance the stars, first add the Outer Glow layer style. Set a Screen blend mode, change the colour to white and apply a Size of around 60px. The key here is to change the Contour of the Outer Glow to the Sawtooth 1 preset. A Gaussian Blur filter with a Radius setting of 0.5px helps to remove the sharpness of the stars after painting them.

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MAKE FANTASY SCENES A REALITY Learn the techniques behind building a mystical castle scene in the mountains Fantasy art requires you to composite many images to form a completely make-believe world that would otherwise be impossible to capture with a camera. The beauty of it all is that Photoshop enables you to combine as many images as you like, as it’s only limited by your imagination. Compositions like the once seen here start with you visualising how you want the final result to look. After this it’s just a case of searching for the images and piecing them all together.

Expert tip Beware of the Feather Try not to overdo the amount of Feather that’s applied to an object. If too much is used then the subject will look unnatural in the composition, especially if this subject is a person. In the Refine Edge command, Smooth, rather than Feather, is the best setting to use to remove harsh edges from a selection.

PREPARATION A closer look at the adjustments that went into this scene CLIFF FACE The Quick Selection tool was used to cut out the cliff face. A mask was then applied and the image was transferred to the canvas by Ctrl/right-clicking on its layer and selecting Duplicate Layer. The Color Balance adjustment was applied directly to the layer, increasing the Green slider.

ROCK PEDESTAL The landscape image formed the base of the composition, but the rock tower needed selecting to bring it in front of the cliffs and clouds. The Magic Wand tool – set to a low Tolerance and with Contiguous unticked – was used to remove the parts in between the small trees on the edge.

WATERFALL Including a waterfall helped to add further interest to the scene. This was also effective in giving the impression of something moving within the composition. A layer mask was added and then the Brush tool set to 0% Hardness was used to leave just the water streaming down.

BRUSH SIZE When editing mist, a large size with the Eraser tool, such as 400px, will help keep your edits subtle. Lower the opacity of the tool for even softer application.

A CASTLE ON TOP The Magic Wand tool was very useful for cutting out the castle. Once a basic selection had been made, and a mask added to the layer, a brush set to black and 100% Hardness was used to remove the trickier parts. Getting a good cutout is key to any composition’s success.

CLOUD FORMATION The clouds were one of the last elements to go in. They were selected out of a different image using the Rectangular Marquee tool and then positioned into the image under all other layers. The atmosphere they bring really adds to the mysterious theme of the composition.

CREATION PROCESS

Blur The Blur tool is useful if you ever need to soften the edges between two layers in a composition. Set Strength to 100% in the Options bar and paint continually to the right layer to gradually blend it in. The Move tool with Auto-Select set to Layer enables you to click on a rough edge and instantly select its layer. This saves you guessing which layer needs selecting in the palette.

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Photoshop Creative

01 Initial edits

The landscape was opened and the waterfall was applied to the rock tower. Mist was added along the base of the image using a white soft brush. This removed the lake originally there.

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COLOUR ADJUSTMENTS Some of the layers weren’t matching in colour. Use the Color Balance adjustment (Image>Adjustments> Color Balance) to tweak any layers that don’t match the main landscape.

BALANCE LIGHTING The lighting is what makes a composition like this work effectively. To control light, use adjustments on the separate layers that make up your image and look to create depth.

CHECK A MASK Opt/Alt-click on a mask in the Layers palette to see a bigger version of it. This helps edit a mask and makes sure that none of the unwanted parts of a layer are accidentally showing.

02

Add depth

The cliff face was added, then the rock tower was selected and brought to the front to add depth. A Brightness/Contrast adjustment was used to darken the rocks.

03 Apply colour

The Photo Filter adjustment was used to tint the composition orange. A Curves adjustment above all layers boosted the contrast, pushing the shadows and midtones darker. Half of the adjustment was removed using a black brush over its mask.

04 Order the layers

The sky, castle and more mist were added to complete this fantasy image. The order of the layers is vital for the composition to work and for each element to sit in its right place behind rocks, trees and hills.

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SELECTIONS Work with the Magic Wand and Quick Selection tools in perfect harmony For all compositions it’s important to have a firm understanding of the selection tools. The trick is not to feel limited and remember that more than one tool can be used at a time. This means that tools such as the Quick Selection and Magic Wand can be combined to make a perfect selection around a subject. For this mountain bike, the spokes proved particularly difficult for the Quick Selection to detect, but the tool was fast to select the rider. After using one tool, switch to the other, focus on other areas and build up a layer mask around the subject.

START IMAGES

SELECTIVE MONOCHROME

USE FREE TRANSFORM Once the rider was masked out, hitting Cmd/Ctrl+T gave instant access to Free Transform, where the angle and size of the layer could be adjusted.

A Black & White adjustment layer was added between the landscape image and the rider. The Yellow slider was increased to accentuate the foliage elements in the foreground.

Image dimensions Watch those small images! For a composition to look at its best, it’s always worth checking the pixel dimensions of the images that are involved. Go to Image at the top of the interface, scroll down to Image Size and compare the figures in this menu for each of your images. This provides a useful indication of whether the composition will work in terms of fitting everything in and sizing layers according to the concept.

SOFTEN Once a mask was added to the biker’s layer, Gaussian Blur was applied to soften its edges and then the Eraser tool to bring back the spokes.

REALISTIC SHADOW An applied Drop Shadow layer style gives the impression the rider is part of the original image. Ctrl/right-click the layer style, pick Create Layer, then go to Edit>Transform> Distort to reshape the shadow.

COMBINED EFFORT

01 Make a quick selection 02 Pay attention to detail 03 Add to the mask The first step to cutting the bike and rider out of the background is using the Quick Selection tool. A simple click and drag around the head, toes and tyres will make a decent first selection.

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Photoshop Creative

After the initial selection has been made we can now add a layer mask. This hides everything and reveals parts of the subject that still need removing, such as the background between the spokes.

The Magic Wand tool can select the parts between the spokes. Tick Contiguous and lower Tolerance to 20 to keep selections local. Press Delete to add areas to the mask.

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SINGLE-IMAGE COMPOSITIONS

START IMAGE

Expert tip Use Dodge and Burn

REFLECTIONS Compose an abstract image using Transform tools and layer modes Sometimes it doesn’t require much to create an interesting composition. In fact, in some cases, it’s just about changing the opacity of a layer and flipping it upside-down to create a reflection.

Used sparingly, the Dodge and Burn tools are helpful to blend layers into a composition. Dodge will lighten an area of a layer, whereas Burn will darken it. Set to Midtones and a low Exposure setting, you can apply the tools around the edges of a layer in an image in a painterly fashion.

01 Flip the image

Compositions don’t always need to have multiple images to work. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to make a copy of the Background layer, then go to Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical to turn it upside-down.

Underwater portal Create mixed messages with simple masking and blending After selecting a patch of water with the Quick Selection tool, a completely different image can be dropped in using a layer mask. Unlinking the mask from the layer enables you to move the image independently and distort the angles of the image. The Screen blend mode helps to bring through the texture of the water underneath.

Place Work smarter with images When you’re making a composition, use the Place option inside the File menu. This is instead of just copying and pasting an image into a composition, as any differences in the dimensions and resolutions that the two images may have will be disregarded. This enables you to resize the image in a non-destructive fashion. Once you’re happy with the image’s position, Ctrl/right-click on its layer and select Rasterize Layer (in Elements, this is called Simplify Layer).

02 Use Marquee

Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and draw over the canvas’s top half to hide it. Invert the selection via Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+I, then apply a mask to this layer to reveal the original.

Sharpening Keep an eye open for blurry images It’s a common problem that when two or more images are next to each other, one can look blurrier than the other. This is where the Sharpen filters come in use to adjust the clarity of individual layers in the composition. Use Filter>Sharpen>Smart Sharpen, setting Radius to 2px, Amount to 100% and tweak Threshold to remove any obviously sharp edges. Try not to overdo the amount of sharpening applied and always look to keep the main subjects sharp.

03 Add a filter

Use the Move tool to reposition the top layer so it lines up with the horizon of the original. Go to Filter>Distort>Ocean Ripple to load the Filter Gallery. Use this to apply a wave to the reflection and hit OK.

Photoshop Creative

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Tutorial Colour in your line art On the disc Use the images on the disc to re-create this!

Essentials Works with

Photoshop CS2 and above and Photoshop Elements

What you’ll learn Painting with the airbrush, layer masks and clipping masks

Time taken

3.5 hours

Expert David Cousens “My work has been influenced by both Eastern and Western culture ever since I was a child, so it’s nice to make some art to show that off every now and then. I’ve been drawing fun and fantastical things like dragons, robots and barrels full of monkeys professionally for around 7 years now!”

Colour in your line art Become a Brush tool master and colour in pre-made vectors for an Eastern-inspired painting

P

ainting in Photoshop can be fun and very rewarding. Get to grips with swiping the Brush tool with a mouse as though it were the real thing. Better still, try this tutorial with a graphics tablet and ensure your brushes have pressure sensitivity enabled. Although you can use a mouse, it would be much less intuitive and more laborious; you would have to manually adjust the opacity and flow settings to achieve a similar effect. To be quite frank, it’s just not as much fun using a mouse!

Step by step Make a dragon masterpiece Learn to paint your own linework-based piece of Eastern art

The setup

01

Open up a new PSD file with the following settings: 245mm x 310mm, Mode: RGB and Resolution: 300 dpi. Open up the ‘Dragon lines.eps’ file (when the rasterise EPS format dialog box appears, click Okay) alongside your canvas.

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In this painting tutorial, you can either create your own artwork from scratch, or you can use the Dragon linework that is available to you in your resource pack (called ‘Dragon lines.EPS’). We will take you right through, from adding in the linework, making a fat colours layer and using a clipping mask layer to add shading, to using paper textures, adjustment layers and altering blending loads. Don’t worry, though – this is a lot easier in practice and much less daunting than it may at first sound!

Aging a paper texture Copy and paste the lines

02

Hit Cmd/Ctrl+A to select the whole canvas (since the background is transparent, you will only copy the linework). Use Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy and then Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+V to paste into your PSD file.

03

Paste ‘Textured paper.jpg’ beneath the linework, duplicate the layer (press Cmd/Ctrl+J) and then apply a Hue/ Saturation adjustment by pressing Cmd/ Ctrl+U. Move the Saturation slider to 75 and click Okay. Set the layer’s blend mode to Multiply, at 73% Opacity.

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Tutorial Colour in your line art Expert tip Expert tip Painting with masks Applying shading or additional detail is much easier to do in Photoshop when you use a clipping mask. These allow you to produce new pixels on top of existing ones, so if you are applying shading to a character then you don’t have to worry about your brush going over the line boundaries since your brushstroke will stop the moment it hits a transparent pixel. You can create a clipping mask layer by Ctrl/right-clicking a layer in the Layers palette, and it will link to the layer below it.

Create a flat colour layer

04

Create a new layer between the paper texture layers (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N). Grab the Brush tool (B) and use a hard-edged brush to colour the dragon. To replicate the ancient oriental feel, we’ve used desaturated colours with strong reds and blacks.

Add the kanji

06

To add to the oriental feel, open up ‘kanji.jpg’ and ‘Free_Dragon_Tattoo_ 01.eps’ (kindly supplied by vector-cliparteps.com ) and use the Lasso tool (L) to select the kanji symbols. Then copy and paste them into your artwork, setting the layer’s blend mode to Multiply.

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Click the lock transparency icon (the chessboard in the Layers palette). With the layer’s transparency locked, you can paint only on existing pixels, so there is no need to worry about painting over the lines; you will just recolour the existing lines.

Shading with just one colour

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08

Make a swatch with the colour values Red: 137, Green: 118, Blue: 123. Create a new layer to paint your shading on, setting the mode to Linear Burn and Opacity to 65%. Check the ‘Use previous layer to create clipping mask’ box and click Okay.

Select the Freehand Lasso tool (press L) and set it to ‘Add to selection’ (in the Options bar). Draw a selection around both areas of smoke and then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian blur, setting the Radius to 8.2 pixels. Click Okay to apply.

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05

Add a shading layer

Blur the smoke lines

09

Colour the lines

Use the airbrush setting to apply shading with just your new colour swatch. The Linear Burn layer makes the colour react with the flat colour layer beneath, so you don’t have to worry about picking appropriate colours to shade with.

Blur the fire lines

10 

Press Cmd/Ctrl+D to deselect the smoke lines and then draw a new Lasso selection around the fire, this time applying a Gaussian blur of 3.8 pixels.

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Expert edit

Start out small

01  Desaturate the image

11 

Click on the small black-and-whitecircle icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new adjustment layer. Pick a Hue/Saturation adjustment and drag the Saturation slider left to -15.

Add a background layer

Using a small airbrush, draw out the thin top line of the clouds. The top edges should be the sharpest and most defined part of the clouds.

12 

Create a new layer to paint a dark background underneath the flat colour layer. Use a larger airbrush to paint in a variety of dark browns around the dragon.

Create a layer group

13 

Holding down Shift, click on the lines layer so that all of the dragon layers are highlighted, then group the layers (press Cmd/Ctrl+G). Click the circlein-square icon in the Layers palette to add a layer mask to the layer group.

Build up and fade out

02 

Alter your airbrush’s size using the square bracket keys. Build up the shape of the clouds below, reducing the pressure you apply to your stylus near the bottom so the clouds fade out.

The mask becomes clouds

14 

Use your airbrush to paint on the layer mask, hiding areas of the dragon and the background to simulate clouds. Paint the clouds so that they look like they are pointing inwards towards the dragon to strengthen the composition.

Bringing back details (part 1)

Use the layer mask

03 

Make the most of painting with a layer mask by pressing X to switch between using black and white; this allows you to either subtract or add to the mask as often as you like.

15 

For areas where you have accidentally painted over the dragon, masking it out, you can bring it back by Ctrlclicking on the ‘flat colours’ thumbnail in the Layers palette and Shift+Ctrl-clicking the lines layer to make a selection of the dragon.

Use pressure sensitivity

04 

To add depth, not all of the clouds should have the same definition. Press down on your stylus very softly with a large airbrush to simulate a fine mist effect, finishing off the clouds.

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Tutorial Colour in your line art

Bringing back details (part 2)

Add a paper texture

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Press X to switch between using black and white, and paint the sections of the dragon back in on the layer mask. Refer to the Expert Edit boxout on the previous page for more instructions on how to successfully render the clouds.

Add another texture

18

Repeat this with ‘parchment.jpg’, but after setting this texture to Multiply, reduce the Opacity in the Layers palette to 69% and then Free Transform the paper to fit your image by dragging the handles. Adding multiple textures gives the image more variation.

Open up ‘CS dirty paper.jpg’ then copy and paste the contents into the top of your image. Change the layer’s blend mode to Multiply in the Layers palette so that the texture is visible over the image. Free Transform it (via Cmd/Ctrl+T) to fit the image.

Wash out the image

19 

To tweak the colours a little, add a Curves adjustment layer. In the Properties tab, drag the top-right anchor point higher up to the right (see the screenshot for reference). This will slightly wash out the image.

Brighten key areas

20 

Add a new layer with the blend mode set to Overlay. Press Shift+G to select the Radial Gradient tool, then set it to Foreground to Transparent and 25% Opacity. Using a white colour, click and drag to make small gradients near the centre of the image. Now save out and you’re done!

Using an inconsistent style Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should… While it is always good to put your own unique spin on your artwork, when working on a pastiche (working in the style of someone or something else) it’s important to remember not to go too far in your own direction. For example, having shading that is too detailed and complicated, or colours that are too vibrant, would render this image ineffective as a pastiche because it would venture too far from the source materials. Be sure to look at your inspiration and identify the common themes so that your initial goal doesn’t become lost somewhere along the way.

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Wrong

Right

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Tutorial Modern family tree

On the disc Use the images on the disc to re-create this!

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Essentials Works with

Learn new skills

VIDEO TUTORIAL

Modern family tree

FREE WITH THE DISC!

Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop Elements

What you’ll learn How to create a family tree by using the shape tools, adjustment layers and layer styles

Time taken

2 hours

Expert Andre Villanueva “Nothing is more important to me than family. I try to disengage from my symbiotic connection with my MacBook Pro whenever I can to spend time with my loved ones. I discovered Photoshop in the early 2000s and taught in the Media Arts department for five years. Now I’m a multimedia designer, and soothe my inner instructor by sharing techniques with Photoshop Creative readers.”

Thrill your loved ones with a freshly modern take on the traditional family tree

N

eed something special to give out at the next family get-together? Surprise your relatives with a slick family tree! To set the stage, we’ll use some ellipses for rolling hills, a light blur image as the basis for the aurora-like backdrop, and a simple tree adorned with layer styles. Adventurous Photoshop users can use the Pen tool to craft their own tree. For silhouettes, we’ll use shape files courtesy of http:// all-silhouettes.com. These are vector shapes which can be brought into play using the Custom Shape tool (Photoshop users: be sure to choose Shape

Step by step Illustrate your family tree Get creative and make a 21st-Century design

Light blur

01

Layers in the Options bar), and they’re all supplied in your resource pack. We’ll use them to represent various family members. We also provide a frame and tips for using actual photos if you want to make a more personalised keepsake. To turbocharge the colours in our piece, we’ll use the Color Balance and Hue/Saturation adjustments along with a Color Fill set to Linear Dodge. Some dabs with a sparkle brush will make a nice mystic substitute for leaves. Photoshop users: it’s advised to group related layers for easier asset management.

Create a new document at 235 x 300mm, 300ppi and with a transparent background. Go to File>Place and add ‘Blur.jpg’ to the top of the canvas. Don’t worry about the empty space at the bottom – we’ll fill it soon.

Gaussian blur

02

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and apply a 24 pixel blur. This will make it more suitable as a background element, reducing its detail but retaining colour and flow. Let’s play with it further.

Warp the surface

03 

Press Cmd/Ctrl+T to bring up Free Transform. Click the Warp button in the Options bar to bring up the Warp mode, which makes the layer a malleable surface. Manipulate the mesh to give a more dynamic, wavy effect to the blur.

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Tutorial Modern family tree

Rolling hills

04

Use the Ellipse tool (U) to create three hill shapes at the bottom. We used the colours #b9a151, #497441 and #dfddac (foreground). Apply soft Inner Glows to the two background hills and a soft Inner Shadow to the one in the foreground.

Plant the tree

Style the tree

05 

06 

Now it’s time to introduce the ancestral tree. Go to File>Place and add ‘Tree.png’. Place it so it’s planted in the foreground hill. For an ancestral tree, it sure is homely. Let’s dress it up with some styles.

Silhouettes

Colour glare

07 

Click the Create New Fill Layer button in the Layers palette to add a Color fill layer using #f006ff. Set the blend mode to Linear Dodge and drop Opacity to 90%. Paint the mask with black to remove everything except the upper-right tree area.

08 

There are many online resources for custom shapes in the CSH format. Go ahead and search for family silhouettes to import, or download the same ones we used from the supplied resources. If you’d like to use photos, consult the Expert tip to the left.

Open the Styles Palette. From the palette menu, choose Load Styles and locate ‘Tree.asl’. With the tree layer still selected, click the new preset. You can examine and fiddle with the styles if you wish.

Load shapes

09

Select the Custom Shape tool (U) and expand the preset drop-down in the Options bar. Use the Load Shapes option from the fly-out menu to import the appropriate CSH files. Set the foreground colour to white.

Expert tip Photo frame Use real family photos to make a more personalised piece. You can create a frame using the various Shape tools, then dress the elements with Layer Styles. Make an inner shape to use as a clipping mask first. Position your photo above the mask, then Opt/Alt-click between the layers to place it within the shape. You can use ‘Frame.psd’ as a template (‘Frame_Elements.psd’ for Elements users). Customise it then merge the layers (Cmd/ Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E).

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Photoshop Creative

Add the first shape

Add the other shapes

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11

Create a new layer. Select one of the silhouette shapes you loaded from your Custom Shape presets. Photoshop users: select Shape layers from the Options bar. On the canvas, hold Shift as you click and drag out your shape. Add a soft Drop Shadow.

Now add the rest of the silhouette shapes to your composition. Be sure to create a new layer for each, and remember to hold Shift as you drag them out, keeping them in proportion.

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Add glares Write the names

Cast shadows

12

13

Use the Type tool (T) to add in names for each family member (we’ve used Verdana). Add drop shadows to help distinguish them from the background.

14 

On a new layer below the tree, use a soft, round brush with black at 15% Opacity to create some shadows under the tree, and under the matriarch/patriarch.

Click the Create New Fill Layer icon in the Layers palette to add a Color fill layer using #b4df6a. Drop the layer’s Opacity to 50%. Fill the mask with black, then paint dabs with a soft(ish), white brush at 100% Opacity to add glares throughout.

Make it sparkle

Saturate the image

15 

16

Load ‘Sparkle.abr’ from the Brush palette menu (Brush Presets in CS5+). Dial Brush Opacity up to 40%. Set the foreground color to #ffffff and the background to #9ef847. On a new layer, dab throughout the composition. We’ll now add the final layers at the top of the stack.

Place a texture

17

Go to File>Place and add ‘Texture.jpg’. This old envelope scan will introduce just a tinge of overall texture. Set the blend mode to Overlay and drop Opacity to 60%.

Click the New Adjustment Layer icon and choose Hue/ Saturation. Increase Saturation to +39. Paint black in the mask with a soft, round brush to remove the effect from everywhere except the centre.

Add a vignette

Color Balance to finish

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19 

Apply a black Color Fill layer. Fill the mask with black, set the foreground color to white, then come back with a soft, white brush at 20% Opacity to paint around the edges. This will darken the perimeter, drawing viewers’ eyes inward.

Click the New Adjustment Layer icon and choose Color Balance. For Midtones, set the sliders (from top to bottom) to -100, -31 and 100. Paint black in the mask with a soft, round brush to restore some of the original colour. And you’re done!

Photoshop Creative

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EXPERT

TOP TIPS WITH SIMON SKELLON

Top five photo plug-ins

01

’S EDITOIR CHO CE

A look at five of the very best plug-ins for enhancing your images

E

xpanding your editing arsenal is something always worth doing. Plug-ins (or attachments) for Photoshop give access to a piece of software designed to perform particular tasks. Here is our top five selection of the ones that really stand out from the crowd.

Top tip: Look for your installed plug-ins at the bottom of the Filter menu once installed 01 ONONE SOFTWARE www.ononesoftware.com
’ $99.95 (£67 approx) ’ Perfect B&W Re-create traditional photographic techniques with this amazing plug-in by onOne Software. From Calotype Paper Negative to Ambrotype, attention to detail in Perfect B&W is second to none, making it a joy to use.

02 BENVISTA www.benvista.com ’ £139 ($207 approx) ’ PhotoZoom Pro 5 Whenever you enlarge an image, resampling takes place. BenVista’s PhotoZoom Pro 5 software uses unique S-Spline technology to make the best possible enlargements from low-resolution originals. The plug-in’s simple interface and fast preview mean you can print big without losing any definition.

03 NIK SOFTWARE www.niksoftware.com ’ From $99.95 (£67 approx) ’ Color Efex Pro 4 There’s not much that Color Efex Pro 4 can’t do. Going for the Complete Edition gives you the entire range of 55 filters categorised under Portrait, Landscape, Nature, Travel, Wedding and Architecture. Control Points are unique to this plug-in, enabling effects to be layered and applied selectively.

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Photoshop Creative

02 04 DIGITAL FILM TOOLS www.digitalfilmtools.com ’ $50 (£34 approx) ’ Light! This plug-in enables you to redesign light in an image, as if it were already there. Light! brings the huge libraries of patterns, gobo styles and gels by GAM Products into this easy-to-use plug-in. Once you’ve tried it you’ll never worry about taking a bad photograph again!

05 TIFFEN www.tiffensoftware.com ’ $199.95 (£134 approx) ’ Tiffen Dfx v3 Tiffen Dfx v3 is dedicated to the art of photographic film effects, from a variety of lens styles to a huge library of film stock. These include authentic grain, colour and everything else that’s present with traditional film effects.

03

04

05

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37

Tutorial Create grunge posters

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Photoshop Creative

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Before

Essentials Works with

On the disc Use the images on the disc to re-create this!

Photoshop CS versions and Photoshop Elements

What you’ll learn Learn to combine layer styles, masks and selections to replicate this shattered poster

Time taken

2 hours

Expert Simon Skellon “These sorts of stock images are just begging to be used together. I always enjoy getting hands-on with layer masking and selections. As Photoshop Creative’s features editor, I have been using Photoshop ever since version 7. I’ve combined my passion for photography with Photoshop, and enjoy nothing more than composing photomanipulations. With years of editing experience, I have built up a large catalogue of top techniques.”

Create grunge posters Combine images and textures for a cracked, graphic poster effect

T

here really is no greater pleasure than blasting apart an image to achieve an explosive and dramatic composition inside Photoshop. With an effect such as this, you can really run riot with adjustments, masks and blending tools to break apart an image into shards. This means not having to worry about replicating the perfect result, which is sure to put you at ease. Over the next few steps we’ll take you through how to build selections around this stunning bird of prey caught in mid-flight. Simply by overlaying a

worn texture, the composition takes on a more dramatic feel. We’ll also show you how to use layer styles and adjustment layers to bring everything together and to make this composition work. There are no solid rules to this poster’s design, or how these techniques can be applied, so you can be as arbitrary with the placement and application of the effects as you like. For the final touches, adding in extra images such as a mountain range to the background will give the overall composition an atmosphere.

Step by step Achieve a shattering result Alter stock images with layer adjustments and a texture

Use the Magic Wand

Copy the eagle

Get a new canvas size

01 

02 

03 

Open up ‘Eagle.jpg’ from the supplied resources, then select the Magic Wand tool (W), setting Tolerance to 71 and uncheck Contiguous in the Options bar. Now click once on the blue sky to select it.

Go to Select>Inverse to flip the area, then use the Refine Edge command to assess the quality of the selection. The sky areas should only be masked. Hit Cmd/ Ctrl+J to copy the eagle to its own layer.

Go to the Image menu and locate Canvas Size. Enter 21cm as the Width, 30cm as the Height, hit OK, then set the Foreground colour in the Toolbar to a dark blue (#: 455260).

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Tutorial Create grunge posters

Enlarge the eagle

04 

Click on the Background layer, hit Opt/Alt+Backspace to fill this with blue and leave the eagle on the layer above. Using the Move tool (V), drag the eagle up and enlarge it slightly with Free Transform (Cmd/Ctrl+T).

Add a textured surface

Rasterise and select

05 

06

Download the texture from www. freestocktextures.com/texture/ id/131. Use File>Place to load this into the composition, reducing its Opacity to 50%. Ctrl/right-click and select Flip Horizontal. Resize the texture so the centre of the cracked area is over the eagle’s talons and it covers the canvas, then hit Enter to confirm.

With Opacity back to 100%, go to Layer>Rasterize>Smart Object (in Elements, use Simplify Layer), then hit Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+U to remove all colour from the texture. Set its blend mode to Overlay, select the Magic Wand tool and set Tolerance to 15 with Contiguous unchecked. Next, select a dark area of the texture to create a selection.

Masked eagle

07 

Now click on the eagle’s layer and hit Cmd/ Ctrl+J. This will create a new layer containing a distorted version of the eagle. Add a layer mask to the original eagle layer, then use the Brush tool to paint away the wings and talons, leaving just its head.

Lighten things up

08 

Add the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer (Layer>New Adjustment Layer) to the top of the Layers palette. Boost Brightness to +65 and Contrast to +10 to brighten the image.

Expert tip Grouped layers It’s a good idea to create a new Group in the Layers palette (Layer>Group) to store all of the individual layers of cracked segments inside. If you’re using Photoshop CS6, then the Drop Shadow layer style can actually be applied directly to the Group as a whole, which will save a bit of time.

Break up the segments

Apply Drop Shadow

09 

10 

On the texture layer, use the Quick Selection tool to roughly select one of the cracked segments. Now hit Cmd/Ctrl+ Shift+J to cut and paste the segment onto its own layer. Use Cmd/Ctrl+T to slightly rotate the segment.

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Photoshop Creative

Use the Quick Selection tool on other parts of the texture, cutting, pasting and rotating them. Now go to Layer>New Layer Style>Drop Shadow (in Elements, go to Layer>Layer Style>Style Settings) and add a black shadow – with Size at 0px and Distance at 5px – to each layer as well as the main texture layer.

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Hide your layers

11 

To make the areas under the segments darker than everything else, hide all the layers containing the shards using the eyes in the Layers palette. Now Cmd/Ctrl-click on the thumbnail of the texture layer and go to Select>Inverse.

12 

Add a new layer and fill it with black by going to Edit>Fill and setting Contents to Black. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+D to remove the active selection, then lower the Opacity to 25% via the slider in the Layers palette.

Edit the landscape

14

Combine selections

Fill the layer

Go to File>Open and locate ‘Mountains.jpg’ from the supplied resources. Use the Quick Selection tool to select the sky, then hold Opt/Alt and double-click on the Background layer to make it live.

13 

Reveal the shards by clicking back on their eye symbols. Holding Shift, Cmd/Ctrl-click on each of the thumbnails to form a large selection, then select the black layer made previously and hit Delete. This will hide black parts under each segment.

Get a clear sky

15 

Press Delete to remove the sky from the landscape image. Go to Select>All and hit Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy the image. Go back to the main composition and hit Cmd/Ctrl+V to paste the landscape.

Layer selection It’s the little things that can make all the difference At points throughout this tutorial you’ll be creating selections to delete parts of other layers. Things can start going wrong when making sure you have the right layer highlighted in the Layers palette, before hitting the delete button. When you Cmd/Ctrl-click on any layer’s thumbnail in the palette to activate it as a selection, that layer doesn’t become the one that’s highlighted.

Photoshop Creative

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Tutorial Create grunge posters

Blend elements together Reorder your layers

16 

Move the landscape’s layer so that it’s just above the Background layer, then use the Move tool to position the landscape to cover just the bottom third of the canvas.

17 

Change the blend mode of the landscape layer to Luminosity and lower its Opacity to 60% to reduce its impact. On a new layer, paint black using the Brush tool along the base of the composition to balance the overall tone.

Closer look Important techniques Why the structure of the Layers palette is so important

Flatten and save

18 

When you’re happy, go to File>Save As and save out as a PSD to keep the layers intact. Go to Layer> Flatten Image and save as a JPEG, setting Quality in the JPEG Options between 8 and 12.

ADJUSTMENT LAYERS With the help of adjustment layers, such as Brightness/ Contrast, highlights can be boosted to make it seem more like glass breaking up.

MAGIC WAND TOOL The Magic Wand tool is useful for selecting colour across the entire image in one go by turning off Contiguous in the Options bar.

DEPTH WITH SHADOWS Layer styles help to give the broken shards more depth. A slight Drop Shadow set to a Size of 1px is all that’s needed.

THE EAGLE’S TALONS Matching up the central point of the texture with the eagle’s talons improves the overall composition, making it seem as if the bird is flying out the picture.

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KEEPING IT SHARP By keeping the head of the eagle clear of any cracked texture using masks, the viewer has something familiar to focus on.

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk

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Tutorial Photograph your own models

SHADOWS The model is positioned sideways to the sunlight for soft exposure. Be careful not to create harsh shadows on the face.

FOCUS The most important part of any model shot is the face. Be sure to focus the lens on this perfectly.

BLUR BACKGROUND The distracting plants in the background were blurred using a wide aperture setting of ƒ4 and the Aperture Priority mode.

LIGHT When outdoors with your model, be sure the sunlight isn’t directly behind them to avoid creating a silhouette.

IT STARTS AT THE LENS Learn the best settings when you take the picture so when you edit it life is much easier!

SHUTTER SPEED A fast shutter speed of 1/250s was used to freeze any movement. You can always apply blurring later using Photoshop’s filters.

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Photography masterclass

Photograph your own models Essentials

You don’t have to be a professional photographer to get great start photos; here’s our guide to photographing your own models

Works with

L

What you’ll learn

et’s face it, without photography there probably wouldn’t be Photoshop! With this in mind, we need to consider what makes a good photo and how to best capture it. Here we’ll be looking at photographing models. Indoors and out, you’ll no doubt face challenges when lighting images and this can be completely dependent on weather (outdoors, of course!). However, you can look to photographic accessories to help sort out these potential issues.

Adapting camera settings, adjusting light and composing the perfect shot for editing.

Step by step Composition tricks

Photoshop (all versions)

Time taken

Making Photoshop as easy as possible to use is something we all strive for. This is why it’s so important to know how to shoot your own stock effectively, for then bringing into the computer for editing. There are many advantages to shooting your own images to use in Photoshop. For example, you can capture a specific expression if you’re shooting a model for a new piece of artwork, or you can control the right lighting you need for achieving a particular mood.

Take control of your shoot for the best results

1 hour

Expert Simon Skellon This tutorial is all about shooting the perfect stock image for making life much easier when editing. As Photoshop Creative’s features editor, I have been using Photoshop since version 7. I’ve combined my passion for photography with Photoshop and enjoy nothing more than composing photomanipulations. With years of editing experience, I have built up a large catalogue of top techniques.

Give a helping hand

Compose the scene

01 

02 

First of all, making the model feel comfortable is important. Don’t be afraid to talk to them, explaining exactly how you want them to stand and the expression you think will be right for the shot.

Not only is the position of the model important, but also their surrounding objects. Before shooting, consider moving anything that could be a distraction, such as plants or furniture. This saves you cloning it out in Photoshop later!

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Tutorial Photograph your own models

Pick your poses

03 

Try a number of different poses, such as kneeling, sitting and standing. The compositions will change each time and this could spark new ideas for artwork once in Photoshop.

Position reflectors

Make your own reflector

04

05 

You can use a reflector to bounce ambient light onto the model’s face. This helps to reduce harsh shading on one side. Reflectors come in different shapes and sizes, but it’s helpful to have another pair of hands on set to position them.

Closer look Inside Photoshop How does this benefit the editing process?

Don’t have a reflector handy? You can easily make your own by wrapping any reflective material, such as tin foil, around something thick, like a sheet of card. This is a cheap but effective substitute for the real thing.

LEVELS Once in Photoshop, the Levels adjustment helps us balance shadows across the face of the model.

SELECTIONS The contrasting background makes it easy to select skin and hair using tools such as the Quick Selection. Go to Select>Inverse to change to the model.

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CLEAN

MASKS

With the background free from clutter, there are no obstacles standing in the way for making selections.

A layer mask can fit neatly on the layer to hide the background. This is now ready for incorporating into a larger composition.

Photoshop Creative

For more great photography tips

search for photoshopcreative Switch over to manual

07 

Moving to one of your camera’s manual modes provides better control over the exposure. Switch to Aperture Priority and change this to a low setting of ƒ2.8. All the details behind the model should then appear blurry.

Shoot in Auto mode

06 

Using Auto mode doesn’t always give the best results. However, it’s worth trying this before jumping to a manual mode, just to see how the camera deals with the exposure.

Step by step Outdoor photography Take your model outside and bask in natural lighting

Bounce the flash

Use a colour backdrop

In the shade

01 

02 

03 

Look to walls and other smooth surfaces for bouncing the flash off. This helps to reduce the harsh, bright light that can come from using flash lighting. Some compacts have a Fill Light setting in the flash options to reduce its harshness.

Placing the model in front of an object with a solid colour will help with the selection process in Photoshop. This image also doesn’t contain any distracting background elements, so all eyes are kept on the model’s face.

When photographing a model outdoors in bright sunlight, harsh shadows are always a risk factor. Try placing your model in the shade, where there will be plenty of natural light. The camera can make use of this for good exposure.

Expert tip Flash covers Flash attachments, for example a small soft box, will help reduce the impact of the light across a model’s face. These are helpful if there’s no available surface to bounce the light off. They also give a wider, softer spread of light. This saves you having to add adjustments and masks in Photoshop to correct bright spots of light. These can often appear on the forehead or cheeks.

Keep your shots steady

04

If you’re without a tripod, kneeling down is a good way to steady the camera and reduce any shake. You could also use a nearby object for something to rest on. This is especially useful when using a telephoto lens, such as a 200mm.

Optimise your ISO setting

05

If there’s plenty of light available, set the camera to ISO 200 or 100. These settings will keep noise distortion to a minimum. ISO is set only when in Manual, Aperture or Shutter Priority modes.

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EXPERT ADVICE WITH LUIS LIMA

Start image

Boost colours

Luis Lima shows us how plug-ins can be used to create colour-rich, detailed imagery

L

uis Lima doesn’t just rely on Photoshop to create punchy compositions. He calls upon the powerful engines that lie within plug-in software to create bold, detailed and noise-free images, as seen in this creation, The Boat. Plug-ins provide adjustments and tools that you won’t necessarily find on the surface of Photoshop. Take noise reduction, for example. Photoshop has a filter dedicated for this purpose, but with DeNoise by Topaz, Luis could apply special effects to varying degrees at a single touch of a button. Working in RAW format gave him the versatility needed for adapting lighting and colours while still keeping the image quality at a high level. Read on through Luis’s expert advice to find out exactly which plug-ins he prefers to use in his creative workflow, and how he incorporates them into Photoshop.

Quick tip: Work in 16-bit when editing RAW files, then reduce to 8-bit

HOW TO Build the boat

The artist Luis Lima Luis Lima is a Brazilian artist currently living in Spain. In 2009, he discovered HDR imaging, and has been practicing and perfecting his techniques ever since. Training day and night has paid off, helping him gain the recognition to go even further. See more of Luis’s work at www. photoshopcreative. co.uk/user/luislima.

The art of plug-ins in Photoshop

PROCESS IN PHOTOMATIX

SHARPEN SMALL DETAILS

ADD COLOR EFEX PRO 4

01

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03

Luis Lima processed this photo of a boat on a beach using the plug-in Photomatix by HDRSoft in RAW format. In the plug-in, he could adjust according to his needs, such as boosting colour and detail. The image was saved as a 16-bit TIFF file.

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Photoshop Creative

The image was taken back into Photoshop and duplicated. The Unsharp Mask filter was applied to bring out more details in the smaller areas of the image and add impact. The changes maybe small, but they all contribute to the piece.

Luis duplicated the sharpened layer and applied the Pro Contrast filter in Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro 4 plug-in. Pro Contrast can be found under the Portrait presets, and it transformed the colour in the image as well as boosted sky contrast.

After

Expert tip Two tricks for HDR edits There are two essential tools for the HDR treatment. First, apply the Image>Shadows/Highlights adjustment to balance the image’s exposure. It’s also very important to finish the picture by balancing colours. Next, head to Image> Adjustments>Selective Color and, through the adjustment’s sliders, you can make the picture look more natural, or even completely change the colours to your liking.

Now you try it... Make your own imaginative Pop 02 Art images and share them:

I set that layer to Multiply (Opacity 80%). I created an adjustment layer and put that at the top of the stack then used theimages Solid Color Upload your on option with and set that layer to ourbrown Facebook page Multiply (Opacity 50%).

PhotoshopCreative Create your own gallery on our website photoshopcreative.co.uk Alternatively, you can email:

[email protected]

SMOOTH WITH DENOISE

04

After duplicating the layer again, Luis then went ahead with applying a light amount of noise reduction using the plug-in DeNoise by Topaz. Noise can be controlled in highlights, shadows and also colours. This helped to smooth out details.

BALANCE OUT TONES

RECOVER THE COLOURS

05

06

To alter contrast, Luis tweaked a Photoshop Curves adjustment. This helped to balance the tones of the image, and created the atmosphere that suits the overall composition.

Finally, the Vibrance and Saturation adjustments were used to recover colour. This helped in the CMYK conversion for print as colours sometimes dull down. Be sure to flatten the image before converting.

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Tutorial Displace filters for fun edits

Original images

On the disc Use the images on the disc to re-create this!

Essentials Works with

Playful compositions Photoshop CS versions and Photoshop Elements

What you’ll learn How to create a beautiful composition and work with Displace filters

Time taken

2 hours

Expert Daniel Sinoca “Making beautiful landscapes using only images of fruits and vegetables is a great way to develop your skills and unleash your creativity! I started to get involved in the digital world more than ten years ago and have been working as a freelance artist ever since, creating all kinds of multimedia projects and writing tutorial guides.”

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Displace filters for fun edits Discover how to create a dreamy landscape image just using ingredients and food from your kitchen

T

o create this tutorial you will need: one pineapple, some broccoli, grapes, bread and potatoes, and a lettuce. Directions: cut and paste the images into your project. Blend the ingredients using several techniques and effects. Okay, this is not a cooking class – we know – but we have still prepared a healthy tutorial for you! With images of fruit and vegetables, it’s possible to create an amazing scene that pushes your skills and creativity to another level. Take a close look in your kitchen or browse the internet to find food.

Pay attention to the shapes and forms of each fruit and vegetable, then imagine how you can create a totally new world just using images of food as your main ingredient. In this tutorial, you will learn how to use simple techniques such as the Displace filter and some lighting effects to create this beautiful foodscape. Search online for real landscape images to get inspired and then try to replace the trees and rocks with broccolis and potatoes. All the images you will need can be found in your free resource pack, so let’s get started.

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Tutorial Displace filters for fun edits Expert tip Displace filter control The Displace filter can create water reflections by using a grayscale map to distort the objects. The displacement map superimposes an image onto another, generating a 3D look. Let’s take our project as example: to create the displacement map, repeat steps 14 and 15; after you apply the chrome effect, duplicate the Water layer. In the Duplicate Layer dialog, hit Destination>Document>New, type any name, and then click OK. Now just crop the image and save it as a PSD file.

Create a new document

Make a gradient background

01 

02 

Begin a new document. Set the Width to 235mm and Height to 300mm, then click OK. Go to View>New Guide and set Position to 50%, Orientation to Horizontal and Vertical, and then click OK.

On the Background layer, grab the Gradient tool (G) and click on Edit to open the Gradient editor. Create a new Gradient using the colours #749ccb and #ffffff, set it to Linear and then click OK. Drag your gradient from top to bottom.

Draw the landscape

03 

Create a new layer. Grab the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) and draw a rectangle inside the vertical guides. Fill it with Green. Press Cmd/Ctrl+T and click ‘Switch between free transform and warp modes’, then drag it up. In Elements, use the Liquify filter to achieve a similar effect.

Place the images

06 

In your resource pack, you will find all the PNG and JPG files you need for the next steps. File>Place the ‘Pumpkin. png’ image and scale it down to 25%, then hit Return to commit the changes.

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Add some noise

04 

To make the grass texture you can apply the Noise effect. Open Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Set the noise Amount to 30% with Gaussian distribution and check the Monochromatic box. Hit OK.

New gradient

05 

Another new layer. Draw another area below the grass using the Rectangular Marquee tool (M). Set the Gradient tool (G) to Linear and make a new Gradient using the colours #749ccb and # 053420. Now drag your gradient diagonally.

Quick Selection tool

Refine the edges

07 

08 

Open up ‘Bread.jpg’. Double-click on the layer and give it a name to unlock it. Grab the Quick Selection tool (W) (Elements users: press A). Check the AutoEnhance box, then click and drag over the image as if you were painting with a brush.

With ‘Bread.jpg’ selected, head to Select>Refine Edge. Set the Smart Radius to 2px, Smooth to 25, Feather to 6px, Contrast to 25% and Shift Edge to -70%, and hit OK. Ctrl/right-click on the layer and ‘Apply Layer Mask’. Save the image as: ‘Bread.PNG’.

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Resize and duplicate

Adding other ingredients

Download more ingredients

09 

10 

11 

Now hit File>Place and drop in ‘Bread.png’. Resize it to around 35%, place it near the pumpkins, and hit Return. Pick up the Move tool (V), hold down Opt/Alt and then drag the Bread image to duplicate it. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+T and then scale it down.

Let’s add other ingredients. Open up ‘Grapes.jpg’ and ‘Pineapple.jpg’. Using the same techniques that you’ve just learned, place these images onto different layers and then scale, invert and reposition each one until your are happy.

Download ‘Broccolis’ from www.sxc. hu/photo/632316. Open the image and, using the Quick Selection tool (W), select the image. Refine the Edges as before (Select>Refine Edges) and then click OK. Save the image as ‘Broccoli.PNG’

Expert tip Use Smart Objects

Get some perspective

12 

Place the Broccoli file into the project. Go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal, Place the potatoes (in Elements go to Image>Rotate>Flip For a nice composition, we’ll need to establish Horizontal) Hold Shift and drag the corners the space and arrange the images in such a to scale down, then hit Return. Hold down way that they appear to exist in 3D space. File>Place Opt/Alt and duplicate the layer, then move ‘Potatoes.PNG’. Press Cmd/Ctrl+T and then resize. the new layer so it’s beneath Broccoli. Duplicate and move the layers around as in step 12.

13 

Add the final ingredients

14 

Press Cmd/Ctrl+; to hide the guidelines. Now File>Place both ‘Lettuce.PNG’ and ‘Cauliflower. PNG’ into your project. Remember to scale (Cmd/ Ctrl+T) and flip the images (Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal). Duplicate the images and rearrange the new layers to complete the composition.

Smart Objects are very useful tools; you can apply various filters, effects and even scale up and down without altering the original quality of your image. Another great advantage to using Smart Objects is that you can duplicate an image several times and, if you decide to add an effect later, you can just open the Smart Object, apply the effect and then all the other layers using the same Smart Object will automatically update together. To create a Smart Object, Ctrl/rightclick on a layer and choose ‘Convert to Smart Object’. In Photoshop Elements, Smart Objects are only available through the File>Place method.

Editing Smart Objects

15 

When you use File>Place, Photoshop automatically converts images into Smart Objects. Let’s add some shadows to the Broccoli image. Double-click on the Broccoli thumbnail in the Layers palette. In the pop-up dialog, click OK. Photoshop automatically opens the Smart Object .

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Tutorial Displace filters for fun edits Expert tip Duplicate images You can duplicate an image in the same layer to avoid creating multiple layers. First, Cmd/Ctrl-click on the image’s thumbnail in the Layers palette. Now hold down Opt/ Alt and drag the image to a different position. You can use the Free Transform tool to scale and rotate the image. Repeat as many times you like, as long you keep the image selected. This won’t work with Smart Objects; in this case, you must Rasterize the layer first. Elements users can Simplify Layer instead.

Adding shadows

Merge layers

16 

17 

Press Cmd/Ctrl+U to open up a new Hue / Saturation adjustment. Increase the Saturation to 15 and click OK. Grab the Burn tool (O), change the Range to Highlights and Exposure to 20%. With a soft brush, start painting the shadows. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+S to save your image.

Add the water image

Displace effect

18 

19 

Open up ‘Water.jpg’ and grab the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), then select the water in the image. Press Cmd/ Ctrl+C to copy and then Cmd/Ctrl+V to paste into your project. Now press Cmd/Ctrl+T and then scale and adjust the image.

Ctrl/right-click on the Water layer and choose Duplicate Layer. In the pop-up dialog, choose Destination/Document: New and name it Displace Map. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+U to desaturate the image. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+L and drag the stops to increase the contrast. Save it as a PSD.

Make a water reflection

Refine the reflection

Season to taste

20 

21 

22 

Grab the Polygonal Lasso tool (L), set Feather to 5px and select the bottom part of the merged layer – try to follow the shape. Now apply Filter>Distort> Displace, using ‘Displace Map.psd’. Set Horizontal to 200, Vertical to 0, and check Stretch to fit and Repeat Edge pixel. Hit OK.

54

When painting shadows, it helps to work in Smart Objects – see the Expert tip on the previous page. Or, create shadows by using Filter>Render>Lighting Effects. Once you’re done, hold Shift and select all of the fruit and vegetable layers. Now hit Cmd/Ctrl+E to merge these layers.

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Keep the merged layer selected. Press Cmd/Ctrl+U and set Saturation to -50%, then click OK. Apply Filter>Gaussian Blur and then set the Radius to 3px. Click on the Background layer and go to File>Place, choosing ‘Clouds.jpg’. Resize and then change the layer’s blend mode to Lighten.

You can add extra images to your composition, if you like. File>Place ‘Pepper.png’ and ‘Pear.png’ in different layers. Drag Pepper above the Water layer and change its blend mode to Soft Light. Select the Pear layer, press Cmd/Ctrl+T to resize, duplicate, and distribute all around.

Not just for dummies

A clear, comprehensive series for people who want to start learning about iPhone, iPad, Mac, Photoshop, photography and more

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Tutorial Dynamic edits Before

On the disc Use the image on the disc to re-create this!

Essentials Works with

Dynamic edits Learn simple skills and basic techniques to add compelling and dynamic movement to your images

Photoshop CS5 and above and Photoshop Elements

What you’ll learn Learn to achieve accurate selections using the Pen tool and make movement using Liquify, Blur and Gradients

Time taken

1-2 hours

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T

his tutorial outlines how you can easily create or add dynamic and compelling movement to images using some simple Photoshop basics. Now you don’t have to be in the grandstands to experience speed! With the help of Photoshop, you will be able to transform any original static imagery to create a spectacular, compelling motion that will get you up and going. We will rely on a few basic techniques, in particular Photoshop’s ability to create different angled blur effects, to add some dynamism to our

scene. We will also utilise Photoshop’s Warp and Liquify tools to add some flow to our movement. Finally, we will show you some quick tips on how to use Gradient overlays and Photoshop’s blend modes to add colour and clarity to your artwork. Some of this tutorial is interpretive (ie colours and effects), so you will have to use your creativity and talent to manipulate your scene. There may also be different ways to achieve similar or better results, so we recommend you experiment a bit to create your own compelling speed scene!

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Expert Thomas Ciccone “What I find fascinating is Photoshop’s powerful ability to use Blur, Liquify and blend modes to create mood and movement where it didn’t exist before in an image. I’ve been working professionally as a designer and illustrator since 2003, and have used Photoshop in virtually all of my works. I’ve won international recognition for both illustration and design, and am thankful for the extreme versatility that Photoshop can offer any artist.”

Draw the cut

01

Open the sample image ‘speedracer.jpg’ from the supplied resources and drag it to your canvas. Using the Pen tool, carefully trace the outer border of the car, paying attention to the mirrors, wheel and fender areas. This may take some practice, but be patient – the more you practice, the better you will get! Zoom in where necessary, clicking around the outline and editing anchor points to get a closer cut.

Refine your edge

03

For a better selection, refine the edge (Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+R). Adjust the edge settings to Smooth: 5px. With the car layer highlighted, Ctrl/right-click and then Layer Via Copy to get a cutout of the original image. Place this layer above the original.

Creating the blur

04

Duplicate the cutout layer, placing it above the first. From the Filter menu, choose Blur>Motion Blur and create a large, relatively horizontal blur. We used a Distance of 1250px and 0 degree angle.

Make a clean selection

02

Use the Direct Selection tool (A) to drag your anchor points to closely match the outer edge of the car. Once you are happy with your shape, Ctrl/right-click and then Make Selection – with a 0px Feather Radius, and as a new selection.

Warping the effect

05

Using the Warp Tool (Edit> Transform>Warp), reshape the blurred image so that it contours the car image but also follows the perspective of the car. This will create the basis for the directional movement you need.

Expert tip Adding highlights

Colour your motion

Step into liquid!

06

07

With the warped image layer highlighted, bring up the Layer Style menu (doubleclick). Add a colored Gradient Overlay, with the blend mode set to Color. Angle the gradient so that it is roughly perpendicular to the motion blur (we angled at just over 100 degrees).

Open the Liquify filter (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+ X) and start with a large brush (250px) and heavy pressure (100). Vary the brush size and pressure to create movement and a swirling action. Set the blend mode to Overlay. Duplicate and place just below the cutout car (no Overlay).

Since the main image is a still capture of movement, it’s good to also try and add some extra ‘movement’ to the general lighting by means of additional highlighting and contrast. The easiest way to do this is with the Dodge and Burn tools. Using a medium to large brush, with Range set to Highlights and a low Exposure (12-15%), gently add highlights to the chrome, lights, windows, mirrors and areas that catch the most light. This will make it jump off the page even more!

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Tutorial Dynamic edits

Get some perspective

Blur the motion

More movement

08

Use the Polygonal Lasso tool (L) to trace additional outer areas of the car (mirrors, wheels, etc). Ctrl/right-click and put a Layer Via Copy above the cutout car.

09

As you did previously, click Filter> Blur>Motion Blur and add a subtle horizontal blur to the copied car parts. Use a small to moderate distance so the blur isn’t as drastic as the original (we chose 75px).

Add some shine

Set some style

11 

12

Use the Pen tool to create a shape layer from the contours of the car’s main windshield. Pay careful attention to the curves and detailed areas around the windshield wipers and corners, and outer detail areas of the window. Creating an accurate shape will add some reality.

Add a Gradient Overlay from the Layer Style palette, using the main sky colours and angling it perpendicular to the car’s hood (about 150 degrees should work here). Adding a dark Inner Glow as well (Opacity: 50%, blend mode: Normal) will smooth the edges a bit.

10

Head to Edit>Transform>Perspective and reshape the new blur layer so that it matches the overall perspective of the car. Resize the image using Edit>Free Transform so that it is slightly smaller and shifted toward the rear of the original.

Go hi-def

13

Highlighting the original cutout car layer, click Filter>Other>High Pass to add a subtle High Pass filter (Radius: 7px). Place this layer at the very top of the Layers palette and set the blend mode to Overlay.

Expert tip Create the airstream An easy way to make the movement and motion dramatic is to add airstreams, or motion elements. Draw basic polygons (thick lines) with the Pen tool; follow the perspective of movement. Merge the shape layers and rasterize the new shape (Ctrl/ right-click>Rasterize Layer). Hit Filter>Liquify and use a medium brush (100px) with heavy pressure (100) to add subtle airstream elements. Try and liquify the shape around highlighted areas, such as the headlights, mirrors and windows.

58

Copy the ground

Finishing up

14

15

Using the Lasso Tool, trace the lower edge of the ground on the full image. Ctrl/right-click and create a Layer Via Copy of the street and pavement area. Place this just below the car cutout layer.

As you did previously, create a Motion Blur of the copied ground layer, but angle it so it more closely follows the main blur perspective. Similarly, repeat this for the area just between the road and sky. The result is a compelling, fast-moving image!

EXPERT TOP TIPS WITH CYBELE ELOY

Change colours in three steps Completely alter selected tones in your shots

H

ere we’ll look at how to change the colour of a car in three steps using the most basic tools in Photoshop. This process enables you to do all sorts of fun things, like change this silver car’s paint completely red. It’s very easy to obtain these results in a short time using Hue/Saturation, Levels and Pen tool selections. This way you can target regions and image detail that shouldn’t be in red, as well as keep the original background. The Pen tool requires more patience when making these selections, but persevere and you’ll have a great edit in no time!

Before

Top tip: It’s very important to control the car’s glare and shadows. A Levels layer should only be used to softly control the shadows

After

Quick fix Swap your tones fast Use adjustments to switch a colour in minutes

Apply Hue / Saturation

01

To begin, open your image and duplicate the background(Cmd/ Ctrl+J) without changing anything in the original background. Now go to Image> Adjustments> Hue/Saturation, set Hue to 0, Saturation to 80 and Lightness to -2.

Finish with the Pen tool Use Levels

02

Duplicate the image you have changed, then go to Levels (Cmd/ Ctrl+L). Set Input Levels to 0, -80, 255 and reduce the white in Output Levels to 241.

03

Merge (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+E) the last two layers that were modified. Use the Pen tool to select areas that shouldn’t be red, leaving only the car’s bodywork. Erasing the remainder should leave everything else in the original colour of the background.

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Tutorial Design a bank note

Original images

On the disc Use the images on the disc to re-create this!

Essentials Works with

Design a bank note If you had a currency what would it look like?

Photoshop CS versions and Photoshop Elements

What you’ll learn Practise using blend modes and textures to create an old-looking bank note

Time taken

1-2 hours

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S

ome graphics, when designed in Photoshop, give us the opportunity to practise a lot of techniques and processes along the way. Designing your own bank note can be fun as well as useful. The process can open up the door to the many different options Photoshop has to offer, such as blend modes, custom shapes, adjustment layers, gradients and much more. To begin this project we’ll pull in two textures to create the base paper for your bank note. These textures will also give your bank note an old and distressed look. Next we’ll add a gradient to the paper to spice up the colours before playing with a

Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. We’ll then experiment with a mixture of different custom shapes to add decorative elements to the bank note. Text can then be applied before moving to the final touches. You don’t have to follow the tutorial to the letter. If you’re feeling creative, go ahead and experiment with different decorative elements or even use your own imagery on the bank note, such as family photos, buildings or birds. There are no right or wrong ways to approach this design project, so have fun and enjoy learning some new techniques along the way.

Be creative and show us your money

www.photoshopcreative.co.uk

Expert Frank Nicholls “Blend modes are among Photoshop’s most powerful features, but the key is to experiment with them. You can get a range of effects for many different projects. Photoshop has been a major part of my life for over ten years and yet there’s always something new to learn, which is why it’s one of my favourite applications. When it comes to creative imagery, the possibilities are endless.”

Open up the first texture

Insert the second texture

01 

02 

Create a new document (Cmd/ Ctrl+N) 235mm wide and 300mm high. Drag the first texture (‘texture1.jpg’) into your spread, then resize (Cmd/Ctrl+T) it to roughly the shape of a bank note.

Open ‘texture2.jpg’, reduce its size and place it above texture1. Cmd/Ctrl-click texture1’s thumbnail to get a selection, then hit Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+I to inverse this and cut (Cmd/Ctrl+X) the overlapping area. Reduce the texture’s Opacity to around 40%.

Add a gradient

Use Hue/Saturation

03 

04 

Cmd/Ctrl-click a layer thumbnail to create another new selection and go to Layer>New Fill Layer>Gradient. Click the Blue, Red, Yellow preset, change the left and right-most tones to #8e08eb, the middle one to #e9ffb3 then change the blend mode to Overlay.

To change the colour slightly, as well as to tone down the saturation, apply a Hue/Saturation adjustment by going to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Hue/Saturation. Adjust the Hue to +30 and reduce the Saturation to -80.

Expert tip Custom shapes

Paste in your portrait

Tweak the frequency

05 

06 

Open ‘portrait.jpg’, hit Cmd/Ctrl+A to select all, Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy, move to your main bank note document and hit Cmd/Ctrl+V to paste it. Use the Transform tools to scale, then go to Image>Mode> Grayscale. When the dialog appears, select Discard. Go to Image>Mode>Bitmap and change the Method to Halftone Screen.

Now another dialog box will appear. Depending on the resolution of your image, you’ll need to alter the frequency until you get the best results. Here we used 30. Change the Shape to Line and press OK. This should achieve a halftone-pint effect, which will give the impression the photo has been printed onto the note. Now change this layer’s mode to Color Burn.

Photoshop comes with many built-in custom shapes, but you can dramatically increase your arsenal by downloading more from the web. There are many excellent ornamental and decorative shapes out there to choose from. Once the custom shape file has downloaded (.CHS), you can load it into Photoshop by simply double-clicking it. Play around with these shapes by adding more to your bank note. Test out various sizes, colours, opacities and blend modes to get a good result.

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Tutorial Design a bank note

Name your price

Use a Drop Shadow

07 

08 

As this is an imaginary bank note, you don’t necessarily need a currency symbol, unless you’d like to invent one. Create a new layer (Cmd/Ctrl+N) and add your value with the Horizontal Type tool (T).

Apply elements to your note

Flip the custom shapes

09 

10 

Next we’ll add some custom shape elements to the bank note. Hit Shift+U until you have the Custom Shape tool selected, then open the Custom Shape picker at the top and select All from the fly-out menu. Pick Leaf Ornament 2 and place four on your note.

Duplicate and adjust

12 

Now duplicate (Layer>Duplicate Layer) the element four times and place accordingly. Flip each one so the middle swoops point towards the centre, then merge them together by highlighting, Ctrl/right-clicking and selecting Merge Layers. Now change the blend mode to Soft Light.

62

Double-click on your text layer and add a Drop Shadow with the 24px Distance, 0px Spread and 0px Size. Change the colour to #cad7b0 and increase the Opacity to 100%. Now duplicate the layer and position the numbers either side of your portrait.

Photoshop Creative

Flip the top two elements so they face the opposite direction to the bottom two (Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal). Now add a Drop Shadow to the elements using the same colour as previous, but this time with 9px Distance, 0px Spread and 0px Size.

Insert some text

13 

Next you can apply some text to the note. Here we’ve decided to add the name of the bank above the portrait in a classic font, Edwardian Script ITC. You can play around here by adding more text to the note as you see fit.

Bring in more shapes

11 

Find and place the custom shape Ornament 1 onto your bank note. Change its colour to #c6d0d0 and add a black Drop Shadow with a 42% Opacity, 4px Distance, 0px Spread and 0px Size.

Use more shadow

14 

As the text that’s been added is white, you’ll want it to stand out by using more shadow. Apply another black Drop Shadow with a 42% Opacity, 4px Distance, 0px Spread and 0px Size.

Be creative and show us your money

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Create the dividers

Resize to fit your note

15 

16 

Next you need to create four dividers to separate the portrait and the numbers. Drag in the custom shape Ornament 8 to your canvas, duplicate it roughly 30 times and position each one underneath the last to create a long divider.

Merge the Ornament 8 custom shape layers and resize the divider to fit your bank note. Duplicate the divider four times and position them accordingly. Alter the middle two dividers to white by adding a Color Overlay in the Layer Styles menu.

Position two rectangles

17 

Next, with the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), create two equal-sized rectangles either side of the black dividers. Fill the selection with black and change the layer’s blend mode to Soft Light.

Arrange the bank notes

19 

Show me the money

18 

Now the bank note is finished, highlight all of the layers (excluding the white Background) and merge them together. Now Duplicate the layer multiple times and rotate each one to create a fan.

For the final result you can duplicate the bank note multiple times to replicate a full 360-degree fan of money. You can then add a wood texture (‘wood.jpg’) on a new layer underneath the fan. This gives the impression that the money is resting on a table and frames it well.

Experimental editing is key Find inspiration to achieve a unique design There’s no right or wrong way to approach this design, the possibilities are limitless. Just about every aspect of the note in this tutorial can be altered to produce your very own unique result. Just a bit of research into existing currency and you’ll soon notice that the designs are incredibly varied, from complex to simple to asymmetrical to symmetrical. As well as experimenting with the wide range of custom shapes available, try inserting more text in different fonts and sizes. Also try adding in more imagery, such as building or birds, or anything that takes your fancy.

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EXPERT TOP TIPS WITH KIRK NELSON

Top ten tips for using Adobe Bridge

OVER THE BRIDGE The Mini Bridge docks just like any other panel, but is most useful when positioned at the bottom of the workspace. The Filmstrip view will scroll the assets horizontally.

Learn the ten best features to improve workflow and aid Photoshop creativity

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dobe Bridge is more than just a file browser. It’s the glue that holds the different applications of the Creative Suite together. Here you can see what hidden powers are waiting under the bridge.

Top tip: Files processed in Adobe Camera Raw have a small icon near the top-right that looks like slider bar handles inside a circle

MINI BRIDGE

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Mini Bridge is available in Photoshop through Window> Extensions>Mini Bridge. This enables you to easily see all the assets in your project directory without having to leave Photoshop. There’s a convenient search field and filter options to make things even faster. Simply drag and drop the files in as you need them!

ADOBE CAMERA RAW

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If you are not using your DSLR to shoot RAW images, then you’re limiting the capability of your camera. RAW captures more range of light and colour than JPEG. Bridge is equipped with the ability to launch Adobe Camera Raw to process your RAW photos. This module contains some of the best image-editing tools available today!

STACKS

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Ever find yourself endlessly scrolling through multiple photos of the same shot with slightly different variations? Condense those multiple shots into Stacks and clean up your directories. Select several photos and go to Stacks>Group as Stacks. This makes it much easier to sort through all the photos in a single glance.

CONTACT SHEETS

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Contact Sheets are a great way to easily review printed photos without waiting for the high-quality prints. Quickly generate PDF Contact Sheets through the Output panel of Adobe Bridge. There are default configurations to speed you along, or you can customise the sizing and number of images per page.

COPY DEVELOPMENT SETTINGS

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Edits made through Adobe Camera Raw are actually nondestructive! The settings are saved in an external file instead of embedded into the image. This means the settings are easily applied to other files as well. Just Ctrl/right-click and choose Develop Settings>Copy Settings, then choose a different file and paste the settings.

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ACHIEVE SUPERIOR IMAGE CONTROL Adobe Camera Raw leverages the increased dynamic range of RAW photographs to your editing advantage. More options, more power, better photos!

PROTECT YOUR PERSONAL WORK Scroll down to the bottom of the Output panel to find the option to add a watermark to your contact sheets. You can choose to use text or a logo image of your own.

EXPORT PANEL

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The Export panel of Adobe Bridge, found by going to Window>Export Panel, features a brilliant method of arranging where your files will be sent. Drag files onto the destination device to line them up, then hit the Export icon to finish the job in one fell swoop!

BATCH RENAME

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There are few things more tedious than renaming hundreds of files manually, so let Bridge offer some relief with the great automated Batch Rename feature! Found in Tools>Batch Rename, this provides several different controls for assigning a new name to several files at once.

DRAG AND DROP

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PHOTOSHOP TOOLS INSIDE BRIDGE

The entire point of providing a visual, thumbnail-based, file sorter is to be able to quickly find what you need and to pull it right into the program. This is the core capability of Bridge, enabling you to drag and drop assets into your projects.

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METADATA

Use some of the most popular automated Photoshop features from right inside Bridge. Go to Tools> Photoshop and select from the list of available functions. Use Photomerge to assemble multi-shot panoramas, Lens Correction to remove lens distortion, or HDR Pro to create eye-popping HDR images. Illustrator’s Image Trace feature even makes an appearance.

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Digital cameras all capture more than a simple photo, with many also keeping the settings along with a host of other information. Aside from the date and time stamp, you can use the Metadata panel to see the camera’s settings for aperture, focal length, shutter speed and white balance.

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Tutorial Design your own stickers

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Photoshop Creative

Share your adhesive artwork

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Design your own stickers Essentials Works with

Photoshop CS3 and above and Photoshop Elements

What you’ll learn Basic colouring and shape-making, specifically for bulk-printing

Time taken

2 hours

Show off your doodles with custom-made stickers to brighten up any surface!

S

tickers are fun and creative. You can use them to brighten up all sorts of mundane things, like folders, diaries and so on – and, with a custom sticker, you can really make something useful and unique too. Say you want to get people to remember a particular date. Get a massive arrow sticker and put it on the calendar! Or do you have a great idea scribbled down on a scrap of paper? Use a light bulb sticker to affix it to your computer monitor. Perhaps a birthday party is fast approaching and

you need to remember to make a costume. Highlight the date on your calander with a homemade sticker! Custom stickers on everyday objects will keep it in the forefront of your mind. Don’t be afraid of doodling your own drawings and designs and scanning them into your computer. Not all of us are fortunate enough to have a home scanner, but many internet cafes and libraries will offer you that service. It’s a very small price to pay to get your own hand-drawn designs right into Photoshop, so give it a go!

Step by step Make bespoke memory aids Learn how to use Photoshop to illustrate your own sticker designs

Expert Sam Brewster “Customisation is a great thing. Ever since desktop publishing took off, people all over the world have been making their own certificates, birthday cards, letterheads and so on. Stickers are the next logical step from that – to have your own artwork on display in the simplest form. I’m a professional illustrator based in London and love to use colours in complimentary and creative ways. I’ve used Photoshop for 10 years.”

Set up the workspace

Scan your drawings

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When editing the work, make sure you’re working with hard edges. Use the Pencil tool (B) instead of the Brush, deselect Anti-Alias for selection tools such as the Magic Wand (W) and Lasso (L), and set the Eraser (E) to Pencil too.

Pick designs that will work as simple line drawings, bearing in mind that you probably won’t be using any shading. We traced pencil sketches with a black pen to get a nice clean drawing. Scan them in at 400 DPI.

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Tutorial Design your own stickers 4 top workflow tips

Cleaning Up

01 

When cleaning up, don’t leave gaps between the colours. Use the Magic Wand set to Select All Layers to select the areas that you want to edit (or not edit, and then inverse the selection).

Convert to line drawing

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To make your scanned drawing into a shape that can be manipulated, use the Magic Wand tool (W) to make a selection of the negative space and then invert the selection (Select>Invert). Create a New Layer and fill in the selection with black.

Make new layers

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Delete the original scanned drawing. Select the pixels of the new shape (Ctrl/right-click the Layer>Select Pixels) and create a New Layer. You can then use this selection to colour in parts of the drawing.

More colours, no overlap Shortcuts

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It can be very helpful to familiarise yourself with certain shortcuts, especially when using a lot of Selections. Deselect: Cmd/Ctrl+D, Magic Wand: W, Invert Selection: Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+I, Eraser: E, Pencil: B. You can remind yourself of these shortcuts by floating over their buttons in the Toolbar.

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Repeat this in a New Layer for each colour. When you create a new layer, use the Magic Wand (with Contiguous unchecked) to remove the previous colour shape from the selection. Hold Opt/Alt as you click on the colour to remove that part from the selection.

Printing in mind

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When you’re putting one colour on top of another colour, make sure that there is enough of a contrast between the two. If in doubt, squint at the image – you’ll see if it’s okay or not.

Sizing up

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Always work at a higher DPI and size than you intend to print. If you don’t start off with a big enough image, the final piece will look pixelated rather than have the ‘print’ look.

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Background fill

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Use the Magic Wand tool, with Select All Layers and Contiguous selected, to select the negative space around the drawing. Invert the selection and create a New Layer, and then fill it with a background colour – we used a light cream.

Colour matching

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Here’s a neat trick for you to use: set the blend mode (the drop-down box in the Layers palette) of all of the colour layers to Multiply. That way, all of the colours have the background colour in common.

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Match them up

Cleaning up

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Go through each layer and play around with Hue & Saturation (Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation, or Cmd/ Ctrl+U) until you find a palette that works for your image. Vibrant complementary colours will make the image really pop.

Expand the canvas

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To make this into a sticker, it’ll need a large bleed around it for the printers to cut the shape out without infringing on your design. You’ll have to enlarge the canvas to create room for the white edge.

Finally, before moving on you should clean up the image of any stray pixels of colour that you don’t want to be printed on your stickers. There’s nothing worse than getting 100 copies of something printed, each with a little speck where it shouldn’t be.

Creating the bleed

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Select the pixels of the background colour layer (Ctrl/right-click the layer> Select Pixels) and expand the selection by 50px (Select>Modify>Expand). Create a New Layer underneath all of the others and then fill the selection with white.

Smooth it off

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To make the pixelated shapes smoother, you need to resize your image. Go to Image>Image Size and change the DPI to 300, then change the height and width to whatever size you want the sticker to be. Make sure that the Resample Image drop-down box is set to Bicubic Automatic.

Choose your printer Save As

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Label each layer for the printers so that there’s no confusion, and then crop the image down to fill the canvas (select the negative space, invert the selection and go to Image>Crop).

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Printing websites like www.awesomemerchandise.com offer a web-based service that can print custom shapes. Conducting a thorough search to find the best site to suit your needs is advisable. It’s massively easy to search and compare sites, using review websites to review the company first if you wish.

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Tutorial Design your own stickers

Alternative designs Try out different designs using different techniques You can take different approaches depending how you’ll use your stickers. You might want something small and simple to use as an indicator, or it could be a large one that has room to write on. Experiment, and create something different with each one!

Meet the monster Have fun with your designs and create several different ones like this creepy monster, peeking through a crack in a wall. Create a few, making a family of monsters varying eye colour and so on.

Bright idea A line drawing was used to make this image, but after filling in the shape of the bulb the unnecessary outlines were erased, so that lines are formed where one colour meets another instead. Stick it in notepads where your want to highlight a great idea.

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Remind me A creative way of leaving yourself ‘to do’ notes, print this sticker a bit bigger than the rest, so that there is space to leave notes on it.

Look at this

For the record

With this design we erased some of the outline after filling in the shape with colour to give it a more artistic look.

For this image, we used part of the original drawing to delete from the solid colour and create the ‘shines’ on the record.

Photoshop Creative

This way This design is tailored to use as a generic sticker template. One option is to do a simple internet search for simple, downloadable vectors and create designs that fit them.

EXPERT

TOP TIPS WITH SIMON SKELLON

Create, print and share

Before

Another great way to share your personalised designs

F

inding the right card that has the right message is never easy. Instead, why not make your own custom one in Photoshop? This quick three-step tutorial will get you off the ground when it comes to creating your own card, and then it’s just a case of using the tool provided in Elements to adapt it in no time at all. Photoshop Elements has a specific greetings card generator that lets you print your cards, and which uses set templates and designs. These are themed for different occasions so, whatever the message, this is a good place to start.

Top tip: Click on the Graphics tab to add a new background to the card’s design

Quick fix From Photoshop to printout Send a personalised greetings message using your own photos

Select a theme

Fill the card

Get hands on!

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Load the images you want to use into Photoshop Elements. Click on the Create tab and select Greeting Card from the list. Under Sizes, select Flat, Portrait or Flat, Landscape, and then select a Theme.

Tick Auto Fill with Images and let Photoshop do the work. Once your greetings card is created, double-click over an image to resize it. Click Advanced Mode to view layers, then click on Print to continue.

Select your printer and set your paper size. Choose a number of copies and click Page Setup to view advanced printer settings. Choose photoquality paper and cut it out when it’s printed!

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Tutorial Retouching: Clone Stamp Vs Healing Brush

REMOVE LINES Use horizontal strokes with the Spot Healing Brush to banish vertical lines and still see an even result.

EMPHASISE BROWS Use the Clone Stamp tool to pad out features such as eyebrows by sampling and duplicating pixels.

SMOOTH SKIN Set the Clone Stamp to low opacity and brush over the face to create an even skin tone.

WRINKLES Both tools effectively combat wrinkles but one is quicker while the other offers more control.

BLEMISHES

Before

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Instantly brush out blemishes with the clever Spot Healing Brush that intuitively samples surrounding pixels.

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Essentials Works with

On the disc Use the image on the disc to re-create this!

Photoshop CS3 and above and Photoshop Elements

What you’ll learn Discover the power of the Healing Brush and Clone Stamp, the Brush tool and adjustments

Time taken

30 minutes

Expert Angelica Jopson “Some Photoshop tools may seem to overlap in function, so separating them and using them in isolation is a great way to discover the true strengths and weaknesses of each one. I came across Photoshop while studying a degree in Multimedia Journalism and have been using the program for 5 years. I’m a freelance writer and regular contributor to Photoshop, design and photography magazines.”

Retouching: Clone Stamp Vs Healing Brush We pit the Clone Stamp tool against the Healing Brush tool to see how each option handles retouching a portrait

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lemishes, spots, wrinkles and shadows. No one has perfect skin, and the most talented photographer working with the most flawless model will still encounter these pesky elements in their raw images. Photoshop has a number of tools fit for restoring and retouching portraits – two of the best are the Clone Stamp tool and the Spot Healing Brush. Both are powerful enough to zap out imperfections and create smooth, even surfaces, but each works in a slightly different way.

In this restoration challenge, we put the tools head-to-head to show you how each option is better at tackling different problem areas and also how you can you can use both tools in distinct ways to achieve the same effect. If you’re guilty of haphazardly unleashing all of your retouching options onto projects, then seeing these two tools work in isolation will help you pick the most effective tool for a particular job; your portraits will be all the better for it.

TOOL A Clone Stamp

TOOL B Brush Healing

The Clone Stamp tool (S) is located in the left-hand Tool palette and grouped with the Pattern Stamp tool. Clone Stamp replicates areas of your image by letting you first sample and then painting that area elsewhere. It’s most useful for rebuilding features and defining lines.

The Spot Healing Brush (J) is also found in the left-hand Tool palette. Unlike the Clone Stamp, you don’t have to sample pixels – the tool automatically reads the surrounding area and attempts to fill in the colour and texture. It works beautifully on small blemishes but often comes unstuck on contrasting edges.

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Tutorial Retouching: Clone Stamp Vs Healing Brush

Step by step Clone Stamp Resurface skin and shape features by sampling good areas of your image and painting over others

Prepare and duplicate

Select Clone Stamp

Begin by Ctrl/right-clicking on the Background of the image in your Layers palette and selecting Duplicate Layer. This will protect your original image from destructive editing and also works as a handy way to reference your changes by checking against the unedited version.

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Troubleshoot spots and blemishes

Banish wrinkles

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Identify all spots and blemishes on the models face and neck. Set the tool’s Opacity to 70% and work from the top down, sampling nearby pixels and painting out the offending imperfections. Change the brush Size to fit the problem area.

Rebuild thin brows

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Since the Clone Stamp replicates precise pixels, it can be used to rebuild features – something the Spot Healing Brush can’t do. Select a 50px brush, set the Opacity to 90%, sample the thickest part of the eyebrows and then slowly build them up, being sure to keep to a neat shape.

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Choose the Clone Stamp tool from the Tool palette. Remember that this tool works by sampling an area and then painting those pixels elsewhere. To sample, hold down Opt/Alt and click, then release to start painting. The crosshairs will show you which area of pixels you’re duplicating.

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Start with the right eye and choose the closest and smoothest area to sample; here, the side of the nose is the best option. Set the tool’s Opacity to 40% and choose a Size of 80px, then start sampling and painting over the wrinkles. Repeat for the left eye and mouth.

Attack the shadows

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Zoom into the neck area of the portrait. With the Clone Stamp tool set to a brush Size of 60px, start sampling lighter areas of skin and painting out distracting shadows. Be sure to resample often to keep results even and realistic.

Smooth it out

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Zoom out and pick a brush as large as the smooth cheek area (around 350px). Take the Opacity all the way down to 20% and start brushing all over the forehead and chin evening out the skin tone while keeping some of the natural texture.

Add natural lipstick

Lighten up with Levels

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Select Layer>New Layer and call it Lips. Use the colour picker to sample a dark red shade from the lip area and then select a soft brush of 50px and set the Opacity of the brush to 30%. Carefully brush over the lip area to deepen the colour.

Select Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels. Use the White Point Slider on the right-hand side of the dialog and move it slightly to the left. Lighting up the image a fraction gives the skin an extra quality of luminance and evens out the skin.

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Step by step Spot Healing Brush Even out blemishes and blend skin tones by using intuitive pixel recognition and a light touch

Prepare and duplicate

01 

Just like the Clone Stamp tool tutorial’s first step: duplicate the background layer before you begin editing. An alternate way to do this is to click Layer from the top bar and then select Duplicate Layer. Name it Background Copy.

Select Spot Healing Brush

Small spots first

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The Spot Healing Brush is grouped with the Healing Brush, Patch and Red Eye tool in the left-hand sidebar. Unlike the Clone Stamp, you don’t need to sample – just paint over the area you want to heal and let the tool do the rest.

Smooth eye wrinkles

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Identify all the spots and blemishes on the model’s face and, from top to bottom, paint over them with the brush. Adjust the Size to match the spots for the best results. As you release the brush the tool will fill the area with surrounding pixels.

Eradicate mouth lines

Go back over your image and paint over any areas of redness, like on the cheeks and nose. Keep the area you are painting as small as possible to help the tool accurately identify which pixels to use.

With the Clone Stamp we could use smooth areas to replace wrinkled ones. The Spot Healing Brush doesn’t know we want to smooth an area out; it only knows to sample nearby pixels. So paint over a large area of the eye wrinkles to give the tool the best chance to even the area out.

Focus on the neck

Darken the eyebrows

Brighten it up

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Target redness

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Zoom into the neck area. Use the Spot Healing Brush to paint small sections in the shadows on the neck, being careful to stay away from the direct edge. As the tool samples surrounding pixels, painting the edge can cause the shirt to be sampled.

Create a new layer by selecting Layer>New Layer and name it Eyebrows. Use the Eyedropper (I) to select a shade of brown from the hair and then set the Opacity to 20%. Lightly paint a shade of brown over the eyebrow shapes.

Right

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As the Spot Healing Brush tool replaces pixels, brushing a single line up or down where the mouth lines are will leave an uneven tone. Instead, make small horizontal strokes over the problem area to give it a natural finish.

Select Layer>New Adjustment Layer and choose Brightness/ Contrast. Pull the Brightness slider to the right to increase the brightness of the image. Tweak the Contrast slightly to the left to even out the skin tone on the model.

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Tutorial Easycomposites Before

On the disc Use the image on the disc to re-create this!

Essentials Works with

Elements and Photoshop

What you’ll learn Make compositions using adjustment layers and Refine Edge

Time taken

30 minutes

Expert Simon Skellon “Composite images should never be too difficult to achieve. Using highresolution stock photos makes this process very simple, as well as enjoyable. As Photoshop Creative’s features editor, I have been using Photoshop ever since version 7. I’ve combined my passion for photography with Photoshop and enjoy nothing more than composing photomanipulations. With years of editing experience, I have built up a large catalogue of top techniques.”

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100 FRE IMAGESE ON THE DISC!

Upload your images to our website

www.photoshopcreative.co.uk

Easy composites Learn to quickly create stunning compositions using high-resolution stock photos

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hotoshop’s Refine Edge tool works wonders when creating compositions such as this one. One look at this model’s frizzy hair would be enough to shake the knees of any Photoshop artist. However, this is a problem that can be easily resolved using Refine Edge’s Edge Detection capability. Refine Edge works even better in version CS6, finding the background bits between strands of hair. If you don’t have CS6, don’t worry, as the feature can still work extremely well in older versions so you can say goodbye to stray strands.

What makes this composition stand out is the simple addition of a gradient map layer. This adjustment essentially lays down a colourful gradient that affects the highlights and shadows across the image. This helps to remove any offending colour casts and evens out the lighting. With these basic techniques mastered, anything is possible in Photoshop and you’ll soon find yourself creating more and more layered artwork. For more creative ideas for making a composition, check out our feature starting on page 16.

Open stock

Make a quick selection

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Stock sites, such as Ingimage (www. ingimage.com), have a vast collection of high-resolution images. Search and filter for images, or grab ‘02I93721.jpg’ and ‘02H70547.jpg’ from the supplied resources, and open them up in Photoshop.

Copy and paste

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Because a selection has been made, we can simply copy and paste this into the landscape image. Go to Edit>Copy and open the image of the road. Go to Edit>Paste and place the subject centrally at the base of the image.

Start by making a basic selection over the subject using the Quick Selection tool (W). Zoom in at 100%, then click and drag from head to toe while holding Spacebar to pan down the image. Hit Opt/ Alt to include the background under the arm.

Add a new adjustment

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Click on Add New Adjustment Layer in the Layers palette and select the Gradient Map option. Tick Reverse in the adjustment and open up the Gradient Editor to alter the tones.

Refine the edges

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When this selection has been made, click on the Refine Edge button in the Options bar. Set Smooth to 7, then use the Refine Radius tool next to the Edge Detection slider to paint over the frizzy hair and remove background elements. Output this as a Selection and hit OK.

Blend the layers

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Set the two colours of the gradient map to yellow (#: debe7b) for the left-side swatch and black for the right-side swatch. This will help to blend the layers together. Change the blend mode of the gradient map to Soft Light and you’re done!

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The easy way to learn Adobe Photoshop

Simple guides For Photoshop & Photoshop Elements

Creative panoramas

14-page beginners’ section starts here

Combine multiple shots for beautiful panoramic images

Need to know…

Step-by-step guides to make editing easy How to use Clipping masks......... 80 Selective colour creations ............82 Turn photos into sketches............ 86 Creative panoramas............................ 88 Discover the Gradient tool ........... 92

Tool focus

Get to grips with gradients Four-page special on the Gradient tool p92

Photoshop for Beginners

What does it mean?

Shape layer

CLIPPING MASKS It’s easy to move clipping masks. Go to the Layers palette and Shift-click on each layer associated with the clipping mask. Now you can head to the Move tool to alter the position, angle or size of your selected clipping mask.

Made with the Custom Shape tool, this layer will absorb whatever is on the layer above it.

In the background Any area the shape doesn’t cover reveals the layers below.

Shape image The image on top of the shape layer will have the clipping mask applied to it.

The clipping mask The down arrow shows that a clipping mask has been applied. The layer takes on the form of whatever is on the layer underneath it.

Creative use By mixing shapes, patterns and clipping masks, we have built up this scrapbookstyle image.

On the site Download our FREE paper texture pack at http://blog. photoshopcreative. co.uk/tutorial-files

Need to know…

How to use clipping masks Turn your layers into creative tools with this essential feature Clipping masks sound horrific and don’t really feature on the radar of many beginners. However, as with a lot of things that seem initially impenetrable, they aren’t that hard once you take the first leap.

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A clipping mask enables you to stick one image onto the form of another. In the world of Photoshop and Elements, this means using a shape layer to make a form and then adding an image on top to stick to that form.

This is a dream capability for digital scrapbook enthusiasts or anyone wanting to create a digital display. Our image here was built using clipping masks for all of the frames and decorative effects.

Easily format shapes Harness the power of this crucial tool

Set the background

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Start by opening all of the supplied images and storing them in the Project Bin. We’ve supplied the backgrounds, but grab a selection of your own snaps. Open up one of the backgrounds to sit happily on the bottom layer, then add the shape and clipping mask layers on top.

Move to fit

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Select the Move tool from the toolbar, then click and drag the photo about until it’s in place. If you need to adjust the size (our example is too large) simply click and drag on the anchor points. When you are happy, click the tick icon and then move the Opacity slider back to 100%.

Insert your first photo

Add a shape

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Go to the Shape tools in the toolbar and click on the Rectangle tool. Now click and drag where you want to place the first image. As soon as you let go, a shape layer will appear. Don’t worry about the colour for now, as we’ll apply an image to it next.

Use a clipping mask

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Go to the Layer menu and scroll down to Create Clipping Mask. Your photo will now morph to the shape you drew and you’ll see a down-pointing arrow next to your photo layer. If you need to get rid of a clipping mask, go to Layer>Release Clipping Mask.

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Double-click on one of your photos to open it up. Once open, go to Select>All and then Edit>Copy. Click back on your document and go to Edit>Paste. This is going to take the form of the shape layer, so you need to make sure it will fit. The next step is to restore the opacity of the photo layer.

Include more shapes

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Adjust the frame

Apply a pattern

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You’ll now see thumbnails of all the available frames. Select one and then click and drag on your document to surround the photo. It doesn’t matter if this isn’t exact, just pick the Shape Selection tool (under the Custom Shape tool), then click and drag on the anchor points around the frame to adjust the size.

Now let’s get decorative. Go back to the Shapes tool area and this time pick the Custom Shapes tool. Elements ships with a host of preset forms, which we will use now. Click the Shapes picker and then click the right-pointing arrow to see the different types of shapes. Pick the Frames set.

You can add patterns to shapes the same way as photos. Open up one of the supplied dotty papers, select all, copy and then paste into the document. Use the Move tool to adjust the size and then go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask. This technique can be repeated with other custom shapes and papers to build the rest of the image.

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Photoshop for Beginners

On the disc Use the image on the disc to re-create this!

Original image

Absolute basics

Selective colour creations Bring out the tones of your image for beautiful results Selective Color is a simple and widely used approach to adding a stand-out effect to your photographs. With this process you can bring out the red in a snow-covered rose or the beautiful blue in someone’s eyes, all while keeping the rest of the image monotone. The improved Smart Brush tool in Photoshop Elements enables you to manipulate your images in a variety of ways, using just the preset effects. The beauty of this process is that you can have as much or as little control as you want over the tonal selections.

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Over the next few pages we’ll be working in Expert mode. The change in the interface when working in this mode may seem a little daunting, but all we are doing is gaining access to the entire catalogue of tools and effects available in Photoshop Elements. Using the Smart Brush tool, we will be making selections as well as setting up our own specific brush. From that point on we’ll explore refining the selection using some of the very powerful yet simple tools available in the software.

Brush Settings Get the right brush tip for the job

Size If you have a tablet that has a styles wheel, or is pressure-sensitive, you can use it to adjust the Size and Hardness of your brush selection by using this dropdown menu.

Hardness Adjusting the Hardness will define how strong your brushstrokes are when making a selection. Set Hardness to 0 for softer edges and 100 for harder ones.

Spacing By changing the Spacing you can tell the brush how generous to be with its selection. Set the Spacing to a low number when refining your selection, but use a high one when selecting large areas.

Roundness The Roundness of a brush helps decide the kind of selection you are making. At 100% you have a perfect circle to make selections with. By lowering the selection you can make your brush much thinner.

Angle By clicking and dragging across the word Angle you can adjust the degrees your brushstroke will come from. You can adjust the Roundness of your brush here by moving the anchor points on the brush diagram.

Refine Edge Edit the edges of the selections you make

View Mode Change the view style depending on your preference. For instance, Marching Ants will retain the selection, whereas Overlay will create a red mask over parts of the image that aren’t selected.

Edge Detection This option can be very useful when your selection is not quite covering the correct area. By adjusting the Radius you can edge your selection into the correct place. Checking Smart Radius can automate this process.

Adjust Edge Refine Radius tool Use the Refine Radius tool to paint over your selection in the image, as well as to make tweaks to the changes made by your Edge Adjustments.

Output Adjusting your Output will determine how the selection will function after you hit OK. For example, Output To Selection will retain a Marching Ants selection and Layer Mask will convert your selection into a layer mask.

Every selection will require different attention. Smooth, Feather, Contrast and Shift Edge can be used to refine a rough selection.

What does it mean? FEATHER refers to the transition between selected and deselected areas in an image. Increasing the Feather setting while using the Refine Edge option, for example, will soften the harshness of the outline being made. Go through the menu Select>Modify>Feather after you’ve outlined your selection.

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Closer look Key tools Selective colouring is simple when armed with the right tools There will be two main stages to this tutorial. First we’ll explore the Brush Settings and how to make a brush selection. Second we’ll refine our selection using the Refine Edge tool. Once you’ve mastered these tools you’ll be able to apply their effects in a variety of different ways. The Smart Brush tool alone provides plenty of presets worth exploring, which can help you manipulate your images in a limitless number of ways.

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Adjustment layer The moment you start making a selection using the Smart Brush tool, a new adjustment layer will appear in the Layers panel. We are not making changes to the actual image, but are instead overlaying an effect with this new layer to make it much easier for us to go back and change things.

The Smart Brush tool

Refine Edge tool

Selections

This option will be our best friend during this process and will do most of the work for us, but it’s our job to tell it what to do. Whether you want to remove colour, add contrast or overlay a texture, the provided presets will help you along the way.

A Smart Brush selection will never be perfect, so the Refine Edge tool will help to smarten up those rough edges. The interface may seem overwhelming, but as you adjust the different settings you will very quickly learn how easy-to-use and vital this tool is.

The way that Photoshop Elements presents our selection is very important to how we work with the image. The Marching Ants selection will clearly define our working area when we make our rough selection, but Elements has a number of ways for us to view this.

Photoshop Creative

Brush tool basics Start with the right brush and the rest is child’s play

Make preparations

01 

For this exercise, use a photograph with strong colours to see the full benefit of the Smart Brush tool. Try it on the same image you see here by opening ‘Balloons.jpg’ from your supplied resources. Activate Expert mode at the top, then pick the Smart Brush tool in the Tool panel.

Brush Settings

Select a brush

02 

In the Tool Options tab at the bottom of Elements, select the Brush Picker tab then go to Presets>Reverse Effects, then turn your image black and white in reverse. Ensure Invert is selected and set your brush Size to 7.

03 

The division between colours in this image is quite clear, so we don’t need the brush to be too specific about the selection it’s making. Go to Brush Settings, set the Hardness to 100%, Spacing to 100% and Roundness to 100%.

Create a selection

Expand the Selection

04 

05 

Focus on an area of the image where you want colour, click once on this area and a selection will be made. Everything within the selection will retain its colour, but everything outside will desaturate. A new adjustment layer will now appear in your Layers panel.

Apply Refine Edge

06 

Once you’ve made your final selections, click Refine Edge in the Brush Options. Notice how the deselected parts of the image disappear. In View mode go to View>Overlay. Under Adjust Edge increase Smooth and Shift Edge until the red overlay leaks slightly into your selected areas.

If the selection spills into an area you want to keep black and white, select the Subtract From Selection icon in the Tool options. Go to Brush Settings and reduce the spacing when working with small leaks, then click and drag over areas you want to deselect.

Check your edges

Final touches

07 

08 

Go back to View mode. Click View> Reveal Layer and the red overlay will disappear and you can review your image. Look at the edges and check if there is any overflow in the selection. If there is, repeat the process from Steps 5 and 6.

Select the Background layer in the Layers panel. Go to Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Brightness/Contrast. Push the Brightness to 45 and Contrast to 30. This will bring out the remaining colours in the image. Go to Select>Deselect to lose the selection.

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What does it mean? EXPERT MODE Photoshop Elements has three modes: Quick, Create and Expert. Don’t be scared of Expert mode if you are not an advanced user; all it means is that you will have full access to all of the tools available in Photoshop Elements, so more options!

Contrast By adding contrast to your image, edges are better defined and allow your subject to really stand out.

Blend Modes By using blend modes you can combine two identical images with different attributes together. In this case, you can add colour using the Overlay mode.

Subject Our subject stands out from the background quite nicely, so we won’t lose any detail once the effect has been applied.

Before

Colored Pencil Effect Photoshop Elements dramatically increases the sharpness of the image and also adds an artificial brush stroke, creating an authentic line-drawn effect.

Need to know…

Turn photos into sketches Master the art of replicating a line drawing in Photoshop Elements Ways of creating breathtaking artwork are no longer limited to the paintbrush and canvas. By combining a series of tips and tools in Photoshop Elements, you can take your photographs and turn them into line art masterpieces. In this tutorial, you will learn how to work with the Colored Pencil filter to transform your image into a work of art, and then give it an authentic coloured finish through the use of layers and blend modes.

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It’s important to explore and understand Photoshop Elements’ powerful Filter Gallery and the custom controls that come with the Colored Pencil filter. Once you master the process of applying the filter to your photographs, you will gain complete control over the look and style of the line art you would like to create. From strong thick brush strokes to a pencil-drawn style, you will be able to use Photoshop Elements to bring out your inner artist.

Colour and contrast

Project setup

Duplicate layer

Open your image in Photoshop Elements. Pick a photo with lots of rich colours, where your subject stands out from the background – the more contrast in your image, the better the end result will be. At the top of Elements, click the Expert mode button.

01 

02 

Filter effect

Add colour

Final adjustments

04 

05 

06 

Head to Filter>Filter Gallery>Artistic> Colored Pencil. This will open the Filter Gallery window. Adjust Pencil Width to 3, Stroke Pressure to 10 and Paper Brightness to 50. Tweak the adjustment as necessary (don’t lose too much image information). Hit OK.

Go to Window>Layers. To the right, you will see the Layers panel. Ctrl/rightclick the background layer and hit Duplicate Layer. Name the duplicate ‘Layer 2’. Click on the small eye icon next to Layer 2 to make it invisible – we will come back to this layer later.

Click the eye icon next to Layer 2 to make it visible again and then select it. Click the drop-down menu at the top of your layer panel that says Normal; this is the blend mode. Make sure Layer 2 is stacked above your Background layer and select Overlay.

Fake a sketch effect Filter Gallery Select a filter style and use the preview window to see how it effects your image. In this case, we are working with Colored Pencil.

Stroke Pressure Adjust the Stroke Pressure to adjust the cross hatching in the image. The higher the Stroke Pressure, the thicker the brush strokes appear – intensifying the effect. Lower the pressure to lighten the image and effect.

03 

Select the Background layer. Now to remove the colour from your image. Go to Enhance>Adjust Color>Remove Color (in Photoshop: Image>Adjustments>Desaturate). Add contrast by going to Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Brightness/Contrast (Photoshop: go to Image>Adjustments). Push Contrast to 100.

Select the Opacity dial (beside the blend mode drop-down). Drag Opacity down from 100% to decrease the visibility of Layer 2, thus decreasing the colour in your image. Try changing the filter for different results. Filter>Sketch is a good place to look.

Find out how to use the Colored Pencil filter in Photoshop Elements Pencil Width Increasing your Pencil Width will make your brush strokes much bolder. Lowering the Width will retain more detail in the image.

Paper Brightness You can adjust the Paper Brightness to darken or brighten your image without degrading the effects of the other two options.

Preview Window Use the Preview window to scrutinise your image and the filter you are working with. Zoom right in to see how the effect works in different image areas.

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Absolute basics

Creative panoramas The Photomerge function in Elements makes generating stunning panoramas a piece of cake

How many panoramas are you the proud owner of? We’re guessing the number isn’t very high. For some reason, people either forget about the format or just don’t think they can create one. Which is a shame, because the format enables you to capture large scenes with the kind of detail not possible with a single lens. A panorama is basically an image created by stitching together individual photos. We’ll admit, there is a bit of thinking needed at the photo-taking stage, but if you can hold a camera steady you can take the necessary shots. Make sure you keep the same settings and then start to snap while slowly rotating. You need to keep the camera level and ensure there’s overlap on each image to be joined. Once you have your images, open up Elements and then use the Photomerge function. We’ll show you just how easy it is to do below and since it is so simple, we’ll even make some colour adjustment to the final image for an extra bit of pop.

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Use Photomerge Transform individual photos to achieve lovely panoramas

Gather your files

01 

There are various ways to open your files to use Photomerge on. You can use images from a designated folder, add them individually or use those currently open. This is our preferred method and it can be done by dragging the images in.

Light prep work

02 

The Photomerge function blends the images together, but check the images to see if any major edits are needed. Because the images have been dragged into the workspace, it’s just a case of cycling through each one. With these images we’ll use the Crop tool to cut a bystander out.

On the disc Use the image on the disc to re-create this!

Original images

Enter Photomerge

Panorama options

Wait and be amazed

03 

04 

05 

All the other photos are fine, so it’s time to enter Photomerge. Go to File>New and you’ll see various Photomerge options, but the one we are interested in is Photomerge Panorama. Once you select it, a new window will appear.

The Photomerge window is where you decide on the type of panorama you want, in addition to setting which photos to use. In most cases the Auto option works perfectly so click this. Select Add Open Files, ensure Blend Images is ticked and click OK.

There’ll be some flashing and progress bars while your images are stitched together. There will also be lots of space around the final image and you’ll be asked if you would like Elements to fill this space. If you prefer to use the Crop tool, just click No.

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Crop to the edges

Prepare for the edit

06 

07 

Pick the Crop tool from the toolbar and then click and drag to draw a rough rectangle. Now release this and use the corner anchor points to click and drag out so as much of the image is kept as possible, while all the white space is deleted.

Getting smart

08 

It was a bright day when this photo was taken, but we want some drama. Head over to the Smart Brush tool from the toolbar and pick the Blue Skies from the Nature set. Now click and drag over the entire image with a large brush.

Brighten up

Sunset effect

09 

Hit Cmd/Ctrl+D to deselect, then with the Smart Brush tool, pick the Sunset brush from the Nature set. Sticking with a large brush, click and drag over the entire image once more.

Adjust the tone

Final touchups

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12 

Things are much fresher now, but we aren’t finished yet. Deselect once more and click the New Adjustment Layer icon in the Layers palette (the half black-and-white circle). Choose Levels, then set the white slider to 210 and the grey to 1.11.

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Now the basic panorama has been created. You can either stop here or apply further edits (which is what we are going to do). Go to the Layers palette and click the dropdown options. Choose Merge Visible to work on just the one file.

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10 

Things are still looking a tad dull in this scene. Deselect once more, pick the Brighter brush from the Lighting set and do the same as before – clicking and dragging across the whole image. This pulls the image out of the dirge realm it was in.

Now take a last look at the image. You might notice areas with dark lines – this is where an original overlap has been highlighted by the colour tweaks. To fix this, merge layers as before, pick the Spot Healing Brush set to Proximity Match in the Options bar and apply.

Get the perfect panorama

What does it mean?

Combine several photos into one impressive result

Start the panorama Kick things off using the Photomerge Panorama option from the File>New menu.

PHOTOMERGE Elements offers various Photomerge functions, each of which uses a number of images to create a perfect result. Our favourite is Photomerge Group Shot, which will take information from different images to make a final shot where no one is blinking, turning away or even looking bored.

Smart moves

Crop the excess

From many to one

Layer control

The Smart Brush tool makes it easy to add final colour and lighting tweaks to make the panorama sing.

The final panorama will have untidy edges. Tidy things up by using the Crop tool to delete the excess edges.

To make a panorama you need a series of overlapping photos, as our example shows here.

Once the panorama is complete, the Layers palette still holds each image so you can go in and make any edits that are needed.

Photomerge window

Create a manual panorama

When you select the Photomerge function, you will be greeted with a window. From here you can select the images, whether they’re the currently open files or a folder of files. You also get to choose the type of panorama you want. The Auto option will be fine most of the time, but you can pick different finishes from the left-hand side. These show a little preview of the effect. The bottom of the window holds three options, the most important being Blend Images Together.

If you revel in panoramas, you may prefer to take the manual route. Go to File>New>Photomerge Panorama as usual but tick Interactive Layout as your Layout option. This opens another dialog that enables you to manually move your source files into the right position, as well as dictate the vanishing point. Elements will still blend between the images and once you click OK the panorama will open as a new file.

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Photoshop for Beginners Gradient picker

Gradient types

Building on results

Explore the dropdown menu and select an existing gradient preset to use. If you create your own unique gradients they will be accessible here too.

You can select how you would like the gradient to be applied to your image by opting between linear, radial, angle, reflected and diamond depending on the results you’re after.

Take control of the gradient’s results by using the Opacity slider and Layers palette. You can build up the effect gradually by adding more gradients to separate layers.

Gradient tool

Applying the effect

You can select and locate the Gradient tool icon in the Tools palette. Alternatively hit G on your keyboard to select it quickly.

Use gradients to add a colourful and creative twist to your images. You can apply gradients to your photos, artwork and even text.

Absolute basics

Using the Gradient tool Join us and discover all of the creative potential Photoshop’s Gradient tool has to offer Photoshop is full of fantastic but rarely used features, like gradients. You can use the Gradient tool to help improve the appearance of your images, add colour to a shot or just to get a little more creative with digital artwork effects. Over the next four pages we’re going to introduce you to the tool and show you how to use it correctly when you’re next editing. Join us as we start to explore all of its easy-to-use options and cover methods such as dropping in a sky and getting cool coloured text

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effects. We’ll even show you how to customise your own gradients for complete control over the outcome. So, start experimenting with the Gradient tool today by following along with our practical step-by-step tutorials first. Once you’ve mastered the tool’s basic controls, you can apply the same steps to other images for a range of different results. You’ll find there are lots of incredible creative possibilities once you begin to explore the options that the Gradient tool has to offer.

Before

Correcting skies Use the Gradient tool to add in new blue skies You can use Photoshop’s Gradient tool to correct overexposed skies in your photos. Follow along with us and discover how to fill in and amend blown-out areas in your photos. Simply select a start image that needs correcting and join us one step at a time as we show you how to add in a new blue sky below.

Linear Gradient Using this option, you can apply the gradient effect straight down from the top of the image.

Foreground to Transparent

Colour selection

Layer control

Select the Foreground to Transparent preset from the Gradient Picker menu to ensure the gradient blends seamlessly from colour to clear on your image.

Use the Eyedropper tool in the Tools palette to select a suitable sky-blue hue from the horizon. The tone will then be applied as part of the gradient to the top of the image before fading out to clear.

Create a separate layer for the gradient to be applied to. Use the Opacity slider to control the gradient’s effect and the Move tool to adjust its position on the image.

Add in a sky Apply a gradient to improve this panorama

Prepare the image

01 

Begin by opening your image in Photoshop. Use the Eyedropper tool in the Tools palette to select a dark-blue hue along the horizon line. Now activate the icon at the bottom of the Layers palette to create a new layer and select the Gradient tool from the Tools palette.

Gradient options

02 

Select the Foreground to Transparent option in the Gradient Picker dropdown menu at the top of the screen. You’ll also need to select the Linear Gradient option and ensure there’s a high opacity. The gradient should appear to fade from blue to clear.

Correct the sky

03 

Click on the blank layer in the Layers palette to activate it. Place the gradient cursor at the top of the sky in the middle, then click and drag down the line. Once released, the gradient should appear. You can use the Opacity slider to reduce its effect and finally flatten the layers.

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Photoshop for Beginners Before

Gradient text effects Customise text in your artwork by adding a gradient You can transform text in Photoshop using the Gradient tool and clipping masks. Discover how to apply unique colour effects to your font using clipping masks in the Layers palette. Here we outline all the essential steps you’ll need to know.

Initial settings

01 

Open the image you want to add text to in Photoshop and select the Text tool from the Tools palette on the left-hand side of the screen. Place the cursor on the background and drag out a suitably sized box for text. Now type out your text.

Add text

Create a new layer

03 

Select the effect

Highlight the text and select a font style from the font dropdown at the top of the screen. Select a font that offers a good width and size, so that you can see more of the gradient effect once it’s been applied.

In the Layers palette select the icon to create a new layer and rename this ‘gradient effect’. This is the layer your gradient will be applied to. Now Ctrl/right-click on the layer and select Create Clipping Mask to connect the layer to the text layer below.

Apply the gradient

Make some adjustments

Complete final tweaks

05 

06 

07 

02 

You can now choose which type of gradient you want, to determine whether it will fade downwards with linear or spiral out with radial. Now click on the image and apply the gradient to the layer. The results should now appear in the text.

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After

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You may need to make adjustments to the clipping mask to get the right result. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to transform the layer and enable you to adjust its size and fit more of the gradient effect in the font. Simply drag in the anchor points until happy.

04 

Select the Gradient tool and choose a suitable preset from the Gradient Picker menu. If you want to include colour from the background, use the Eyedropper tool to select a specific hue from within the image.

You can also adjust the opacity of the clipping mask layer to control the strength of the gradient within the text. When you’re pleased with the results, flatten all of the layer files via Layer>Flatten Image and then save your final shot.

Unique effects Once you’ve created your own custom gradient, save it to the preset folder and use it again on your images and/or artwork.

Gradient type Choose how smooth you would like your gradient to be by selecting between Solid or Noise gradient types. Solid offers smoother transitions in tone, whereas Noise has a broken appearance.

Customise presets Load up the Gradient Editor dialog box and select an existing preset to customise with colour.

“Experiment with different colour hues and see what kind of results you can get”

Custom gradients Make your own gradients for greater creative control You can take direct control over the gradient you’re using by customising existing gradient presets or creating your own unique ones from scratch. Experiment with different colour hues and see what kind of results you can get. Follow along with us below and we’ll show you how it’s done.

01 

Customise preset

Select colour

Apply the custom gradient

02 

03 

04 

Click on the gradient picker box at the top of the screen to open the gradient editor dialog box. Select an existing preset to customise with colour. Select between solid or noise gradient types depending on the results you want.

Start a new document

Colour control

Start by opening a blank document in Photoshop (File>New). Hit Cmd/ Ctrl+Shift+N to get a new layer, which you can apply your custom gradient to later on. Now select the Gradient tool.

Adjust the smoothness of the gradient to control how the colours blend. Now adjust colours to get a unique gradient. Double click on the colour tabs along the bottom and select a hue from the colour picker dialog box to replace it with.

Change the colour hues in your gradient by adjusting the colour tabs. Double click to bring up the colour picker dialog box and make a selection.

You can add fade-outs to the end of your gradient by adjusting the opacity tabs along the top. Once you’re pleased with your gradient, rename it and select New to save the preset. You can now apply it to your blank background file.

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REVIEWS CAMERA

NIKON COOLPIX S6500

Price $219.95US/£147(approx)

Web www.nikon.com

Nikon COOLPIX S6500 Compact cameras are under threat from smartphones, so we look to Nikon’s S6500 to help restore confidence WHERE’S IT ALL GO?

We like the camera’s thin width, which hides away a 12x optical zoom lens neatly inside.

Standout feature QUICK EFFECTS The S6500 has a Quick Effects mode to transform images. These include High Key, Low Key, Lomo, HighContrast, Monochrome and Soft Effects. However, we did find the camera shot slower with this option enabled on.

PICK A COLOUR PURPLE FRINGING Purple fringing has always been an issue with compact cameras, commonly appearing in high-contrast images. The S6500 is no exception.

T

he COOLPIX name is fast becoming lost among the blurring of the line between smartphone technology and our everyday compact camera. However, at 16MP, the S6500’s print sizes are substantial and much larger than that of a smartphone. The compact fronts a 12x optical wide-angle lens that benefits from Nikon’s reliable VR (Vibration Reduction) technology. All of this makes a powerful camera for around the £200 mark. The large 3-inch LCD screen on the back tops it off and gives a lot of scope for composing shots. The obvious difference here, however, is the absence of a touchscreen. But let’s not get caught up in smartphone confusion. Even at ISO 1,600, noise distortion was minimal, which was a pleasant surprise from what we’ve previously experienced with Nikon COOLPIX compacts. This meant we could shoot with

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confidence, knowing that noise wouldn’t be a problem later on. Image sharpness was soft, but the S6500 has some delightful on-board effects that we could get stuck into. These include the ability to capture a full 360 panorama by moving the camera around. The Quick Effects feature also gives you the chance to apply interesting styles to images – such as Pop, Toy Camera, or Cross Process. The S6500 also boasts Wi-Fi connectivity that meant we could upload an image to our Wi-Fienabled computer or printer. Although this isn’t a direct link to social networks, it’s a convenient alternative to transferring images when a card reader or USB connection aren’t close at hand. The S6500 is ideal if you’re looking for a lightweight, portable compact to snap highresolution stills and Full HD movies on the go.

The S6500 comes in a number of colours to suit any mood, including red and silver. We like the black option, as there’s not a sharp edge in sight.

The specs Company Nikon Additional Specs 16MP 12x optical zoom 3 inches 1,080p HD video

The verdict

8

The handy features that are packed in here make for quality results

REALLUSION FACEFILTER3

SOFTWARE

Price From $29.99US (£20 approx)

REVIEWS

Web www.reallusion.com

Reallusion FaceFilter3 Transform your portrait shots with the latest post-production tools in FaceFilter3 ROUNDER FEATURES

T GRELA UE VA

Parts of the face can be resized, such as the shape of the eyes, by clicking on them in the Modify box.

FORMATS? The software isn’t strictly a plug-in and it doesn’t work with Photoshop’s native PSD format. This aside, JPEG and TIFF formats are both workable.

FREE TRIAL Enjoy 15 days of FaceFilter3 for free and grab downloadable content from Reallusion as a way of getting familiar to the software before purchasing.

Standout feature

W

e would love to be able to capture the perfect portrait shot every time, but let’s be honest this just isn’t always the case. Helping us get over this problem is Reallusion’s FaceFilter3, which offers a variety of ways to improve the appearance the faces in our images as well as reshaped specified features. FaceFilter3 makes it possible to correct and enhance the human face to give your shots a more professional edge. From altering a complexion, to applying digital cosmetic surgery or changing the shape and expression of the facial features, we found this software very easy to use. Once all the makeup was applied, we could give images a bit of extra flare by going into the Effects tab and applying depth of field, for example, before saving the image. FaceFilter3 is structured in such a way that makes it very simple to get used to. Categories at the top of the interface – Import, Fitting, Makeover, Reshape, Effect and Export – contain adjustments for undergoing various stages of the retouch process. Whether it’s applying foundation, improving the exposure of an image, or increasing eyelash length – everything is done for you. Unfortunately, we did

BONUS MATERIAL COMPLETE THE SET FaceFilter3 can complemented with Makeup PRO, completing the set of tools and makeup templates for creating the perfect face.

A big part of the FaceFilter package is access to bonus content. Once you’re a registered user, the Dazzling Looks bundle comes free with additional makeup elements to re-create Asian, Bollywood, Hollywood and various glamorous looks. All these styles can be viewed online.

find that the plug-in struggled to keep running smoothly when working with high-resolution files. But this aside, once we rendered the effects they looked very natural and realistic. Unfortunately, integration with Photoshop is minimal as PSDs are rejected. However, if you’re editing straight out of the camera then JPEGs are the accepted format here. In true Reallusion style, FaceFilter3 is only available on Windows PC, but we hope Reallusion will look into branching out onto Mac OS with further instalments of the software. If you’re serious about portrait photography and need something more to help boost your images, then FaceFilter3 software should go to the top of your shopping list.

The specs Company Reallusion Additional Specs Windows only

The verdict

7

Plenty of extra content, but this is for Windows users only

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REVIEWS BOOKS

CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY IDEAS… / PHOTOSHOP CS6: THE MISSING MANUAL

Price £14.99/$24.99US

Web www.fwmedia.co.uk

Creative Photography Ideas Using Adobe Photoshop 75 post-production projects for expanding your artistic repertoire

F

rom the perspective of a photographer – especially for internationally award-winning artist Tony Worobiec – Photoshop is the principal software for transforming ordinary images into creative pieces of artwork. In Creative Photography Ideas, the 75 tutorialbased projects look at editing photos for creating various effects and making vital improvements. From the plain and simple cropping and levelling horizons; to the more complex effects such as dealing with noise distortion and converting images to stunning monochrome. The book’s tutorials are concise, making for a quick read. Tutorials are explained in an average of five steps throughout. Some of the more complex techniques giving the same amount of space as the basic ones, with some begging to be expanded further. The projects are not only about the technical applications of using Photoshop, as the more creative tutorials cover applying lightning to a

BOOKS

The specs Author Tony Worobiec

Publisher David & Charles

ISBN 978-1-4463-0236-1

landscape, re-making the pop art style, and forming a retro comic-book effect. It’s the quick-fire approach to tips and advice that will keep you turning the pages. This is a straighttalking tutorial book with hands-on advice. For those looking to do more with photos, this is just the ticket.

Price £38.50/$49.99US

The verdict

7

Perfect for beginners, but is too brief with some techniques

Web www.missingmanuals.com

Photoshop CS6: The Missing Manual Plunge into Photoshop with another thorough Missing Manual compendium

I

f you’ve held a version of The Missing Manual before, then you’ll be fully aware just how heavy they are. The Missing Manual is Photoshop in book format, meaning that everything you can think up is described and presented in one of its 862 pages that make up this Photoshop CS6 edition. Now, more colourful than ever, this is a wonderful how-to guide for many of the new and old features in Photoshop. Split into artistic uses and technical advice, The Missing Manual is an informative yet friendly-written guide to using the software. This is not just for one sitting though, as to really absorb the advice you’ll need to dedicate many hours of reading time to the book. Making it easier to work through, the book is divided into handy sections that do well to explore vector, filters, text, methods of sharpening and resizing, to name just a few.

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The specs Author Lesa Snider Publisher O’Reilly ISBN 978-1-449-31615-0

The verdict This is a beast of a tome that is filled to the brim with informative help and advice for understanding and effectively using Photoshop CS6. You’ll never want to put it down!

8

There’s enough in this book to last till the next version of Photoshop!

Be inspired. w w w. icreatemaga zin e.com

Available from all good newsagents and supermarkets

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Common problems solved

PHOTOSHOP

QA +

Before

PHOTOSHOP Our panel of Photoshop professionals answer your niggling questions about fixing photos, creative image edits and making inspirational digital art

After

Get in touch Post your questions to Photoshop Creative Q&A, Imagine Publishing Ltd, Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, BH2 6EZ Message us on Twitter @PshopCreative Leave questions on our Facebook page PhotoshopCreative

On the disc

Alternatively, you can email: [email protected]

Use the image on the disc to re-create this!

The experts Andre Villanueva “I love using Photoshop to both retouch reality and create fantastic scenes, and will answer your creative questions.”

Susi Lawson “Photoshop really is a wonderful program for creating artistic effects using filters. There’s nothing stopping going all out!”

Simon Skellon “There are no limitations to what you can do in Elements or full CS versions - we’re here to help with all your creative queries.”

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Improve with filters HOW CAN I USE FILTERS IN PHOTOSHOP TO GET CREATIVE WITH PHOTOS? Erin Vincent, via email Filters are perfect for supercharging the movement and excitement in an action photo. This image started out as a photo that did not quite capture the intensity of the sporting event; you can grab it from the supplied resources. The Unsharp Mask filter (Filter>Sharpen) was used to sharpen details first. A duplicate of the original layer was then created (Cmd/Ctrl+J) and the Radial Blur filter was applied to create a spinning effect around the young football star. A layer mask was added, and black was painted using the Brush tool (B) to restore focus on the boy. All the layers were then merged using Cmd/Ctrl+Opt/Alt+Shift+E, and then the Lens Flare filter (Filter>Render) was applied multiple times to get some light effects. Finally, several adjustment layers (Layer>New Adjustment Layer) were used – such as Levels, Vibrance and Color Balance – to get the desired tone and color.

Quick tip

Lasso selections The Lasso tool (L) is a basic but handy tool in the Photoshop arsenal. It enables you to draw a freehand selection around subjects, and it’s a great for editing images: use it to quickly section off an area for localised editing. To add to the current selection, hold Shift as you draw with the tool. Hold Opt/Alt to remove parts from a selection, or hold Opt/Alt+Shift to create a selection at the intersection between an existing and new selection.

PHOTOSHOP

Common problems solved

Quickly improve portraits HOW CAN I USE ADJUSTMENT LAYERS TO IMPROVE MY PORTRAITS?

Expert tip Editing Gradients To access the Gradient Editor, grab the Gradient tool and click on the gradient preview at the top of Photoshop. You can view, load and create your own gradients. The bottom strip represents the current preset. Use the stops above it to add varying levels of opacity. Below it, use the color stops to set the colours that make the gradient. Click to add a colour, or drag one off the screen to remove. Hit New to add it.

Dina Flores, via Facebook Adjustment layers are ideal for improving portraits. They are non-destructive and you can experiment with the settings to fine-tune them until you achieve the perfect look. They also have masks you can use to pinpoint where the adjustments will take effect. On this image, the Levels adjustment was used to provide an overall contrast boost. Another Levels layer was applied to darken the edges of the photo, using black paint over the centre of the adjustment’s mask to prevent the face from being affected. The Color Balance adjustment was used to remove some of the redness; the slider was moved away from red to neutralise this colour. To lighten the model’s teeth, a Hue/Saturation adjustment was applied; Saturation was decreased while Lightness was increased. Levels and Hue/Saturation adjustments were both applied to the eyes to brighten them and make them more vivid.

Gradient edits WHAT’S THE GRADIENT TOOL FOR AND HOW CAN I USE IT CREATIVELY? Kat Anderson, via Twitter The Gradient tool (G) enables you to apply a blend of two or more colours across an image by defining start and end points. Experiment with the length between the two points to see how it affects the look of the gradient. Longer lines create more gradual blends, whereas shorter ones produce tightly packed mixes of colours. Be sure to try the presets and all five styles (which you can find in the Options bar). These include Linear, Radial, Angle, Reflected and Diamond. Gradients are a great way to quickly fill an empty background with colourful effects. Shapes can be filled by first creating a selection in the desired shape, then applying the gradient. To create gradient rings, open a separate square document. Use the Transparent Rainbow preset with the Linear style to create a horizontal strip in the center. Then go to Filter>Distort>Polar Coordinates and choose Rectangular to Polar.

How can I make an image look like it was taken underwater? Andre’s expert edit

01

Create a Gradient Fill layer above the photo using light blue and dark blue colours (#409ee6 and #172a93). Set the blend mode to Linear Light.

02

Set the Foreground colour to a light blue (#c8f4f4). Using the Gradient tool (G) with the Foreground to Transparent preset, create a glare in the upper corner.

03

From the Gradient Editor, load ‘Light.grd’ from your resource pack. Select the Angle style, then create a gradient emanating from the centre. Set to Screen and lower to 60% Opacity.

04

To finish, apply a Wave filter (Filter>Distort) to the first layer. You can create bubbles using the Ellipse (U) and Brush tools, then duplicating and placing throughout.

Photoshop Creative

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PHOTOSHOP

Filter effects WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO CREATE A SIMPLE GRAPHIC ART EFFECT IN PHOTOSHOP? Sammy Tyler, via Twitter Start by going to the Filter Gallery inside the Filter menu and run the Cutout filter over your image. This helps to define the shapes that are in your image, such as the barn and trees in this one, and ensures that they hold their form for the next filter. You create extra interest and soften the details by going to Filter>Blur>Surface Blur and adjusting the sliders for the best effect for your image. Be sure to make your start image something that will have structure and retain shape. You may also use a layer on the last filter and erase areas in which you want to reveal more detail.

Accurate colour Before HOW DO I ACHIEVE NATURAL COLOUR IN PORTRAIT SHOTS?

After

Lisa Walters, via email The best way to ensure proper colour is to ensure your model is not wearing harsh colours near her face in the first instance. Be sure the background is complimentary and the light is as natural as possible. Also, shoot in RAW to have control over colour temperature. If you still need extra post-processing help, then try going to Image>Adjustments>Color Balance and using the controls to change the skin to a cooler or warmer tone. For instance, if the skin has a yellow cast, then adjust your slider more towards the blue end.

Smart Filters WHAT ARE SMART FILTERS AND HOW CAN I USE THEM? Jordan White, via email A Smart Filter makes your filters smarter! Open any image and make a duplicate layer by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+J. Then go to the Filter menu and select Convert for Smart Filters. This will turn the layer into an editable one after you apply the filter in the next step. It actually acts very much like a mask, as it allows you to remove or replace the filter effect using Photoshop’s Brush tool. For this image, the Oil Paint filter (in Photoshop CS6 only) was used on a Smart Object layer. The filter could be reduced by using a soft brush and adjusting its opacity to control its overall impact. It is a very easy way to make adjustments after applying a filter.

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PHOTOSHOP

Common problems solved

How can I get creative with the History Brush tool? Susi’s expert edit

01

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Find the History palette Make a new layer and apply Click on small box next to Continue erasing a few under the Window menu. Be Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. the start image at the top of more objects in your image sure that this is open before using Click on the camera icon at the the History palette. Grab the History and notice how the History palette the History Brush tool, and keep it on bottom of the History palette to take Brush tool and erase only the main records every step. Now flatten your top of your workspace. a Snapshot of the blur effect. subjects to create a miniature effect. image and save it as a PSD.

WHERE IS THE HISTORY BRUSH? You can find the History Brush tool on the left side in your Toolbar. Its keyboard shortcut is Y.

AREA TO REVEAL Always select the History state in which you want the effect to show through. In this image, we selected the start state to reveal the clear original.

MAKING CORRECTIONS If you make a mistake, you can either delete the History state or select the image and use the History Brush tool.

HISTORY BRUSH TOOL You will use the History Brush tool not to erase but to reveal the start image. It is used much like the Eraser or Brush tools on a mask.

CREATE A SNAPSHOT After you apply a filter, you will then need to click on the camera icon to take a Snapshot. This stores a version of the image in the History palette.

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Common problems solved

PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

QAELEMENTS +

PHOTOSHOP

We’re here to solve your editing problems with tips and techniques made especially for Photoshop Elements users

Meet your experts… Daniel Sinoca “Photoshop Elements is a great alternative to the full CS version, with cool features you can really enjoy. Here, we tackle some of your questions and share our tricks.”

Charis Webster “As the Deputy Editor of Photoshop Creative, it’s great to help with your Photoshop and Elements questions. Keep sending them to us via Facebook, Twitter or email!”

Simon Skellon “Photoshop Elements has a great range of tools to create amazing creative effects like lighting tricks and colourful edits. It’s a great program for the beginner too.”

Get in touch Share your tips with us on Twitter @PshopCreative Post queries on our Facebook page PhotoshopCreative

Quick tip

Add graphic elements

Alternatively, you can email: [email protected]

New Comic Effect HOW CAN I CREATE A COMIC BOOK EFFECT IN ELEMENTS? Luca Fisher, via Twitter One of the new features in Photoshop Elements 11 is the Comic filter. This filter gives your photo a comic-book look in few simple steps. First, open and duplicate your image, then go to Filter>Sketch> Comic. In the Comic filter menu, you have four presets to choose from. I used the Comic preset for this image. Choose the preset that you like and then use the sliders to change the settings and enhance the image even more.

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Use the Soften controls to change the range of the colours. Shades specifies the number of colours to be reproduced, Steepness defines how the colours will blend from one to the other, and Vibrance enables you to make colours more vivid. You can also increase the thickness of the pen stroke. Use the Smoothness buttons to enhance the final effect. You will love playing around with the Comic filter – the final results are always very impressive.

Add a frame and graphic elements to enhance your final project. First apply the comic effect and then copy and paste your image in a new background. Go to Layer>Layer Style> Style Settings and click Stroke. Change Size to create a frame around the image. Hit F7 to open the Graphics panel, then click on the drop-down menu and choose Shape. Scroll down to find the thought bubbles, drag and drop, then add text to finish.

PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

Common problems solved

Retouching faces using the tools in Elements Daniel’s expert edit

01

Open your image in the Guided mode and select Perfect Portrait from the Touchups panel. The first step is Apply Smart Blur to smooth the skin texture.

02

Now click on Reveal Original to bring back the original image. Click on the Blur Brush and then paint over the skin areas to smooth them out.

03

You can click Increase Contrast to give a stronger effect and improve the overall appearance of the portrait. The contrast will increase every time you click on the command.

04

Use Enhance Facial Features to improve the image quality even further. Use the Spot Healing tool to fix minor skin blemishes and clean up the image.

Simulate fine art paintings WHAT IS THE IMPRESSIONIST BRUSH IN PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS USED FOR? Amanda Cox, via email The Impressionist Brush is used to simulate a fine art painting in your image. You can find the Impressionist Brush under the Brush tool (B) in the Options panel. You can specify the brush Size, Opacity and the blend mode. Opacity lets you see the pixels under the paint strokes, while the blend mode specifies how the paint blends with the pixels in your photo. By clicking on the Advanced button, you can find other options to control the stroke. Under the Style drop-down menu, you will find several styles to simulate different artistic strokes. You can also control the Area to define the range of the brush. The Tolerance will define the amount of similar colours to be affected by the brush. You can apply the Texturizer Filter too (Filter>Texture> Texturizer) if you want to give your creation a final touch of canvas texture.

Special effects HOW CAN I DO SOMETHING CREATIVE BUT SUBTLE WITH MY PET PORTRAIT? Anna Lee, via Facebook You can combine the Orton Effect and the new Graphic Novel filter to create a beautiful pet portrait in just a few steps by using Photoshop Elements 11. In the Expert mode, open up and then select your image by using the Selection Brush tool (A), and then add a layer mask. Go to Select>Refine Edge and tick the Smart Radius box, setting the Radius to 7px. Expand the areas using the Refine Radius tool (E) and click OK. Duplicate the layer and name it ‘Pet Effect’. Now click on Guided mode. In the Photo Effects panel, we’ll use the Orton Effect to create a soft dreamy feel for your image. Click Add Orton Effect and move the Blur slider to 50, then click Done. Go back to Expert mode and move the ‘Pet Effect’ layer to the top of the layers stack. Go to Filter>Sketch>Graphic Novel. Choose the Painted Gray preset and increase the Thickness to 1.75. Click twice on the Add button next to Smoothness and click OK. Ctrl/right-click on the layer mask to disable it, and change the layer’s blend mode to Luminosity.

Before

After

Photoshop Creative

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Common problems solved Musical distortion HOW DO I REPLICATE SPECIAL LIGHT EFFECTS COMING FROM MY IPAD? Katie Harris, email This effect is fairly common, and there’s so many different creative ways you can achieve it. You can use the Custom Shape tool in Photoshop Elements combined with Transform commands, such as Perspective and Distort, to bend and warp outlines. Because custom shapes are vector-based layers, you can resize them without sacrificing quality. Hit U to activate the Custom Shape tool. Select Music from the Shape options and apply some of these. The Motion Blur filter will also come in handy to give the effect of the notes bursting out of the screen. With every shape on its own layer, each can be reshaped and blurred to give the impression of motion. The Line tool is also handy for this, which you’ll find with the other Shape tools. Musical bars can be stretched out from the screen with the same techniques. The glowing effect can be easily achieved using the Brush tool on a new layer. Set this layer’s blend mode to Vivid Light and place it at the back of all the other layers. With a soft brush, and the same tone of blue as the notes, applying light is no sweat.

PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

MASKING A layer mask enables you to remove parts of the notes that appear in front of the screen and helps blend them with the original image.

MOTION BLUR Use the Motion Blur filter on each layer, but keep a couple of the shapes recognisable by reducing the amount of blur.

Before

Expert tip Group distortion Once you’ve applied all of the shapes in the image, you need to increase the distortion of everything. You can select all the layers at once by holding Shift and clicking on the top and bottom, once in the panel. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to view the Transform box that should appear around everything. The Distort transformation command can be used to increase the angle of the moving musical notes in one go. This edit also helps with depth and perspective.

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BRUSHWORK Don’t just restrict yourself to the Custom Shape tool. Use the Brush tool to paint in a blue light. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+J to duplicate its layer and intensify the effect, then hit Cmd/Ctrl+E to merge them.

DISTORTION After drawing a shape, hit Cmd/ Ctrl+T to activate the Transform tools. Ctrl/right-click and select Distort, then reshape the note by pulling the top boxes towards the small screen.

PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS

Common problems solved Expert edit Replicate a dawn effect

01

CUSTOM SHAPE TOOL

Blur control

To make an image look as though it’s been taken at dawn, add the Levels adjustment by going to Layers>New Adjustment Layer>Levels, then hit OK in the dialog.

Select the tool and head to the Options panel. Change the default shape to the Music category and find one you like. Click and drag this to apply it to the image.

02

Inside Levels, change the dropdown list of colours from RGB to Red. Any changes will target the parts of the image in the Red channel.

03

Push the white marker until the highlights tint red. Move the middle marker to the left to add a red glow to the image.

EXTRA LIGHT To help boost the contrast and intensity of the light, add a Levels adjustment to the top of the stack and push the two end markers inwards.

04

Change the blend mode of the adjustment to Color. If you need to make the image lighter, add the Brightness/Contrast adjustment and increase the Brightness slider.

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ON THE DISC

PHOTOSHOP CREATIVE ISSUE 99

System requirements Company www.richardrosenman.com System requirements Any PC capable of running Adobe Photoshop v4.0 or higher, or any applications compatible with Adobe’s plug-in specifications.

Display resolution Minimum display resolution 1,024 x 768 (Min 1,280 x 1,024 x 24-bit colour recommended).

Compatible file types All common graphics file formats (inc. .bmp, . gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tif, .tiff, .tga). Exclusively on 24-bit images (eight bits per channel).

Memory Up to 3GB of RAM under 32-bit Windows (2000, XP, Vista) and up to 4GB of RAM under 64-bit Windows. A minimum processor speed of 800 MHz is recommended. A minimum memory capacity of 512 MB is required.

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Share your depth of field creations

www.photoshopcreative.co.uk

Before

On the disc! Install the plug-in If you use Windows, 32-bit, simply unzip ‘dofpro40.zip’, copy ‘dofpro.8bf’ and ‘convert.exe’ to your ‘\Photoshop\PlugIns\’ folder, or whichever plug-in folder your host program uses. Load your program, open an image, go to the Filter option and select DOF PRO under its menu.

Use your free software

Faking depth of field Download your free plug-in from the disc and learn how to achieve the depth-of-field effect

D

epth of field is a popular photographic trick that can be replicated in Photoshop. Re-create this popular technique with the free plug-in on the free disc. Courtesy of www.richardrosenman.com, this full version of DOF PRO is worth £65! Below is a breakdown of the plug-in’s capability and, in three easy steps, you can see how to add a pleasing depth-of-field effect to your photographs, turning an ordinary photo into a stunning shot. Try out the plug-in on your own photos to add a great treatment and draw attention to particular areas of focus. The technique works wonderfully on portraits where distracting backgrounds can be less in focus and the main subject or person gets the opportunity to stand out. You can also head to http://blog.photoshopcreative.co.uk/tutorial-files to download the images we’ve used here to give this exact effect a shot.

Step by step Achieve depth of field Head to www.dofpro.com for the full tutorial to accompany your free plug-in

Kick it off

Work the threshold

01

02

Open ‘Chess.jpg’ in Photoshop and choose Filter>DOF PRO. You now need a Depth map to the image. A Depth map is effectively a greyscale image that represents the distance of the object from the camera in the original image. Switch from Fixed Defocus mode to Depth Map mode in the Depth section. Click Load and select ‘Depth_map.gif’.

With your Depth map added, you can now adjust it to suit the image. Start by setting Intensity to around 50, change the F-Depth slider to 255 and the Aperture Size to 16.0. Go to View Selected>View Processed and select more of the bright highlights in the RGB image via the Threshold slider. You can boost the luminance with the Enhancement slider.

Angle and curve

03

Set Threshold to 230 and Enhance to 25. Now, under the Aperture section, select Pentagon from the dropdown menu and use the Angle and Curvature sliders in the Aperture section. Set Angle to 20 and Curve to 35, then click OK to return to Photoshop and save.

Photoshop Creative

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Interview

Childsplay

Land of Fruits

Above Castle View

Shaban’s surreal castle composition Read on to find out how Shaban put together his artwork Castle View.

“Keep practicing; it’s the only way to get better”

Above Stonehenge Beach

Shaban Asim

Shaban Asim shares his thoughts on the latest Photoshop, and how looking inwards helps him to create new work

“

hen I got hold of a pencil – not using it for writing but for making sketches – it triggered my interest towards digital artwork,” explains Photoshop artist Shaban Asim. Analysing his own thought processes helped him to understand his work. We speak to Shaban to find out which tools he picks up the most when editing in Photoshop. Inspiration can come from anywhere, according to Shaban, and here he tells us about the artists who he finds most inspirational.

Where do you find inspiration?

I have to say that Photoshop was very hard to understand at first. When I saw other artists doing a tremendous job using their creative skills in Photoshop, they all seemed so fascinating to me that I was compelled to be part of this family of innovation. The Internet was one place I used for training through different tutorials.

one, so I’d have to say the Pen and Lasso tools in Photoshop. I find the Lasso particularly useful when I’m working on fine details.

W

In deep observation of my surroundings, my thoughts, goals, and especially my successes and failures. Grab a notebook or sketchpad and head to a place that inspires. Anything can spark an idea; a movie, a book, an interesting turn of phrase. Sometimes a single colour inspires me. My favourite artists would have to be Dave McKean, Derek Lea, Brian Froud, Marleen Vorster and Debra Mason.

Blend the stock together I merged stock together, changing the lighting effects using Levels and Curves adjustments. I imported a different sky image and blended it using Color Balance.

Light up the castle I imported the castle image and adjusted the source of the light using Levels and masking. Brushwork is useful for masking.

Which Photoshop tools help What was your first experience you the most when creating? There are lots of great tools; it’s hard to name with Photoshop?

What are your thoughts on the latest version of Photoshop? There are many great things about Photoshop CS6. The Content-Aware feature is fantastic, though. I just hope Photoshop doesn’t go too far, to the point where we become lazy and stop experimenting with our ideas.

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Mask around the path I wanted a path going to the castle, so I combined images and masked out what I didn’t want, setting contrast and colour.

What advice can you give to fellow digital artists? Finding better source images is important for achieving better results. Avoid overusing effects. Spend more time on discovering inspiration and learning different techniques. Keep practicing; it’s the only way to get better. Visit Shaban’s Photoshop Creative gallery at www.photoshopcreative.co.uk/user/shaban to see more of his work.

Fill it with detail I added images like birds, rocks and a person to make it more interesting. I used a Gaussian Blur and the Soft Light blend mode to make a subtle glow.

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