Get some cool Photoshop tips

by David Peters

To build an apocalypse scene start with: First stage of project is to find and refine source photos of destruction references connected with our subject … search key word is destroyed, rubble, bombed and etc. you can find very nice pics for free, just look around! Now we select finded materials and search useful areas of destrucion on photos and composite it with our source. But first we must correct the perspective with standard transform tools in Photoshop like scale, rotate, skew and etc. Next step is to do a ground from green grass. This process its very easy to do, i use some changes in Hue and Saturation value and sharpness of image to expose mud. As you know in Net you can find very nice pics for free and composite them in to our image like this hole. Sometimes image not have only one element to composite, like this below shows the birds and clouds. In this case I use clouds to make smoke from factory shaft. This is the end stage of project with glass shattered window frame. Final Photoshop compositing have 32 different layers with various blending types. Almost whole work is done in Photoshop except, color correction and sun lens effect which I create in Eyeon Digital Fusion a full-featured, node-based compositing system with Knoll Light Factory plugin.

Photo retouching is sometimes quite important to your photo. You can change your photo to black and white, take out some unwanted acne, fix a blurry line. Well, here are some instructions on how to sharpen your image. Start by opening your image Duplicate the background layer by pressing control+j. Press shift+control+u to desaturate the layer. Go to filter>others>high pass and give these values, Radius of 0.4 pixels. Press control+l to open levels. Fianlly, change this layer’s mode from normal to overlay. If you find excessive shaprening then reduce the opacity of this layer. You now have more sharpe image and it works on almost any image.

Photo manipulations are really fun ways to change photos around and make them different in exciting ways. Textures are a huge part of photo manipulations. They can completely change a picture. You can download textures from many different texture websites. Textures are very helpful when making a dark piece. I will demonstrate how to use these effectively. First get a picture of someones face. Now I want you to apply a texture of a bumpy/jagged rock or rocks. Set it on hard light or vivid light (whichever looks best for you). Add some color changes and a bit more. Now with some color changes and more contrast and more black, it could turn out to be a really nice photo manipulation.

It’s time to introduce Adobes ExtendScript Toolkit which is the environment which you will work in to create scripts for Photoshop CS2. In this tutorial I will introduce Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit, reference documents that you will need when writing scripts and in the end I will guide you through a hello world program for Photoshop scripts. ExtendScript ToolkitIf you have Photoshop CS2 you probably already have the ExtendScript Toolkit, to test if you have it create a new file and name it test.jsx. When double-clicking the file ExtendScript Toolkit should open.

Open up a new 5×5 pixel image with a transparent packground. Select your Pencil Tool and set it to 1 pixel. Set your foreground color to black. Now draw something like a plus sign on your image (You might have to zoom in on your image). Define the pattern by going to Edit > Define Pattern. Now open up the image you are going to be applying the grid to. Now grab your Paint Bucket Tool and in the options bar (Window > Options), change the Fill to Pattern. Next to Fill option you will see the Pattern Option. Find your pattern in there and then create a new layer. Use your Paint Bucket Tool on the layer you just created. In the Layers Palette, adjust the opacity to lighten or darken the grid.

Layers are an integral element of Photoshop. They allow you to edit images more easily, and use transparency to its full effect. By default the background layer (Locked and labelled “Background”) is white, and any subsequently created layers are transparent by default. Layer Opacity: The opacity of the current layer, 0-100%. Blending Mode: The manner in which this layer interacts with layers below it. See below. Active/Linked Layers: A small paint brush icon appears in this space to indicate the active layer, and chain icons signify other layers that are linked with the active layer. Layer visibility: An eye in this area signifies that the layer is visible, and an empty box means it is hidden from view and exempt from formatting. Layers: Two example layers showing an example background layer and new (transparent) layer (Layer 1). New Fill/Adjustment Layer: Creates a layer that can add a gradient to or adjust the hue, etc. of the layer below. New Layer: Creates a new layer [ctrl/cmd + shift + N]. Delete Layer: Deletes the currently selected layer. New Layer Set: Creates a folder for layers to be put into for easy organisation of layers. New Layer Mask: Creates a sub-layer with which you can use all normal tools. Adding black to a layer mask, for example, means that that part of the layer is invisible. Layer Effects (Styles): Applies various effects to the current layer - can also be reached via.

A way to make a whole pallette from the three colors is not extremely difficult. Open a new canvas, does not really matter the size, but keep it no smaller than 468×60. Click on the gradiant tool on the left tool bar. Go into the Gradient Editor, by clicking on the colored gradient on the top toolbar. Place the darkest of the three colors on one side, the lightest on the other, and the midtone in the middle. Keep the opacity at 100%. Press Ok, then click-drag a horizontal line across the canvas. You can use the eyedrop tool to take the color from this canvas and color the skin of your project. Now that we have a pallete of color, we have to understand the effects of lighting on skin. It’s a very simple concept, but understanding it is necessart to shading skin. As any matter, the brighter the light, the lighter the highlight and the darker the shadow. The dimmer the light, the difference between the light and the shadow decreases. The shadow cast by it is also affected by the light and darkness. The color of light affects it in the same way. If the light is green, it will have a green tint to the skin. If it is a small light, such as a lamp, a smaller portion of the skin will be that color, instead of affecting the whole skin. As stated before, most matter is affected the same way as this.

About the Author:

Do you have more questions about learning photoshop fast? Here is some more great tips and a free report, learning photoshop fast has never been easier.